No. 1 Catalina Foothills held off No. 5 Scottsdale Chaparral’s seventh-inning rally to come out on top 6-5 in the 5A elimination-bracket game at Tempe’s Diablo Stadium on Monday night.
Chaparral scored four runs in the inning and had the bases loaded with two outs when Arizona Class of 2025 commit Ganon Dwyer got the last batter to fly out.
Catalina Foothills (25-2-1) will face No. 4 Scottsdale Horizon (25-4) in a semifinal game Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at HoHoKam Park in Mesa. The Falcons, who lost to Horizon 8-4 in Tempe last week, will have to beat Horizon on Wednesday and Thursday to reach the championship game May 16 at Diablo Stadium.
No. 3 Nogales (25-7) is in the same situation with No. 2 Queen Creek Casteel (25-6). The Apaches lost to Casteel last week and will face the Colts in the semifinals Wednesday at 4 p.m. at HoHoKam Park. Nogales needs a win to force another game with Casteel on Thursday for a spot in the championship.
Catalina Foothills led 6-1 entering the seventh inning behind the early pitching of left-hander Ethan Bell, Matt Adams’ 2-for-3 performance with an RBI triplet, Troy Sanders’ home run and Anthony Diaz’s two-run home run.
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23’ OF Anthony Diaz
(Catalina Foothills)@cfpats commit getting this one started early with a no doubter over the right field wall for a 2 run 💣.#BESEEN ll @Anthony_diaz05 pic.twitter.com/tzUrtsdI4W— PBR Arizona (@PBRArizona) May 9, 2023
23’ 3B Matthew Adams
(Catalina Foothills)@ACUFirestorm commit cranks this ball to the right center gap for an RBI triple. Catalina Foothills leads 4-1 after 2. #BESEEN || @MathewAdams2023 pic.twitter.com/7GJUidN8iE— PBR Arizona (@PBRArizona) May 9, 2023
The first two Chaparral batters in the seventh inning reached on an error and a walk.
After a batter struck out, Cody Estes had an RBI single and Chris Newstrom a two-run double to cut the lead to 6-4.
The next two batters walked and reached on a hit-by-pitch to load the bases.
A fielder’s choice groundout to second base was the second out but a run scored to make it 6-5.
After another hit-by-pitch loaded the bases, a fly out to left field ended the game.
Sanders, son of Baltimore Orioles first base coach Anthony Sanders, hit a solo home run. The elder Sanders was a standout at Santa Rita before playing in the major leagues.
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23’ SS Troy Sanders
(Catalina Foothills)@GCU_Baseball commit hits one on a frozen rope over the left field wall for a solo 💣.#BESEEN ll @troy_sanders_ss pic.twitter.com/4kgiZGyLg0— PBR Arizona (@PBRArizona) May 9, 2023
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