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Baseball Playoffs Roundup: Rivals Sahuarita & Walden Grove to meet in 4A second round


No. 2 Walden Grove defeated visiting Prescott, the No. 15 seed, by a score of 13-1 in six innings and host No. 7 Sahuarita beat No. 10 Seton Catholic 2-1 on Saturday to set up a 4A state playoffs second round matchup of the rivals that are located less than four miles from each other in Sahuarita.

Walden Grove (25-3) will host Sahuarita (21-5) on Monday at 4 p.m. The teams split during the regular season with each winning at the other’s field.

Four teams from Southern Arizona, including Walden Grove and Sahuarita, advanced in the 4A playoffs.

No. 3 Salpointe defeated No. 14 Flagstaff 10-1 and No. 4 CDO beat No. 13 Lee Williams 21-0.

In Walden Grove’s win over Prescott, centerfielder Milo Rushford, who is headed to New Mexico State, went 2 for 2 with two home runs, three runs and six RBIs to lead the Red Wolves’ 15-hit attack.

Fletcher Edwards finished 4 for 4 with a double, home run and two RBIs. Guillermo Metzler and Alejandro Martinez each were 3 for 4 with two runs. Metzler had two RBIs.

Luis Pablo Navarro recorded 11 strikeouts and only one walk in five innings. He also allowed only two hits.

In Sahuarita’s win over Seton Catholic, the Mustangs rallied for their two runs with two outs in the fourth inning on Brian Brimmer’s two-run single.

Seton’s Joey Steinkamp cut the lead to 2-1 with an RBI double in the fifth with two outs.

Sahuarita starter Rome Ochoa and reliever Diego Alvarez shut the door from there.

Ochoa scattered six hits over six innings with four strikeouts and no walks.

Alvarez entered in the seventh and struck out the side, including an additional batter because of a dropped third strike — accomplishing the rarity of four strikeouts in an inning.

4A

No. 3 Salpointe 10, No. 14 Flagstaff 1

Mauro Acuña and Connor Raetzman each tallied three hits and Arizona signee Mason White hit a home run and a double and produced three RBIs to lead the Lancers to the next round of the 4A state playoffs.

Raetzman also hit a home run as did Jose Simon as part of Salpointe’s 13-hit attack. Owen Guest also went 2 for 4 with two RBIs.

Robert Lopez earned the victory striking out 12 with only one walk in five innings and Max Smith allowed only one hit over the last two innings.

No. 3 Salpointe (19-10) next hosts No. 6 Notre Dame Prep (22-5) on Monday at 4 p.m. The teams met at Salpointe on April 9 and the Lancers won that game 11-1 in five innings.

No. 4 CDO 21, No. 13 Lee Williams 0

A 13-run second inning that included a grand slam by Austin Madsen highlighted the Dorados’ win over Lee Williams.

Madsen, who last week hit a grand slam at Salpointe, finished 3 for 4 with two runs and seven RBIs.

Three other players had two hits and two RBIs in the game — Chris Humphreys, Lucas Casey and Jacob Charlson.

Blake Lehmbeck and Marcus Delgado combined on a two-hitter in five innings with each recording two strikeouts with no walks.

No. 4 CDO (20-7) will host No. 5 Mesqute (21-8-1) on Monday at 4 p.m.

6A

No. 8 Chaparral 6, No. 9 Tucson 4

Juan Hernandez and Ruben Villaescusa each had two hits for the Badgers, who host San Luis Tuesday at 6 p.m. in an elimination-bracket game.

Castro Ruben also produced two RBIs for the Badgers and Villaescusa had a double.

Tucson had two runners on base in the sixth and seventh innings but couldn’t push them across.

5A

No. 1 Nogales 9, No. 16 Sunnyside 3

Nogales’ six-run third inning proved to be the difference in the win over the Blue Devils in the opening round game of the 5A state playoffs.

Thomas Teel and Sergio Valverde each had RBI singles before Derek Montijo hit a two-run double in that third-inning rally. Luis Martin Romero later hit a two-run single.

Montijo went 3 for 4 with two RBIs while Romero went 2 for 3 with two RBIs.

Roman Bracamonte earned the win striking out eight and walking one in 6 2/3 innings.

Sunnyside, which finishes its season 13-17, was led by Jovanni Toledo and Martin Banuelos each going 2 for 3 with a run.

No. 1 Nogales (28-2) next hosts No. 9 Desert Mountain (18-8) on Monday at 4 p.m.

No. 11 Catalina Foothills 7, No. 6 Millennium 4

Catalina Foothills traveled to Goodyear Millennium on Saturday and came up with the win behind two hits each from Alex Figueroa and Troy Sanders.

The Falcons scored three runs in the sixth and seventh innings to secure the lead and the win.

Kincaid Bergthold hit an RBI single in the sixth, and in the seventh, Sanders laid down a suicide squeeze bunt and scored on Matt Adams’ double.

Ethan Bell got the win scattering eight hits in five innings with a walk and strikeout and Figueroa allowed only one hit with a strikeout and no walks in two innings of relief.

No. 11 Catalina Foothills (18-12) next plays at No. 3 Verrado (22-5) on Monday at 4 p.m.

No. 5 Canyon View 9, No. 12 Cienega 1

The Bobcats, who finished their season 15-13, were limited to three hits by Canyon View starter Connor Mattison, who had 11 strikeouts and two walks in seven innings.

Isaiah Jackson, CJ Hangartner and Conner Balmer recorded the hits for Cienega.

No. 3 Verrado 3, No. 11 Marana 1

Marana finished its season 17-8 with the loss at Verrado.

Luke Moyle pitched a complete game for the Tigers with five strikeouts and no walks while scattering five hits.

Landon Lawler and Peyton Proper each had two hits for Marana.

Proper scored in the seventh inning after leading off with a single and advancing to third on an error. He scored on a fielder’s choice groundout.

Lawler doubled with two outs and moved to third on a balk but was left stranded.

No. 2 Horizon 16, No. 15 Ironwood Ridge 6

Ironwood Ridge’s Nikolas Gardoni hit two home runs and finished with four RBIs but it was not enough for the Nighthawks, who finished the season 13-12.

Shane Melick went 2 for 3 with an RBI for the Nighthawks.

3A

No. 12 Tanque Verde 7, No. 21 Fountain Hills 5

No. 10 Sabino 13, No. 23 Page 3 (6 innings)

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