No. 1 Salpointe goes for its fifth straight 4A state championship, dating to 2018, facing the difficult task of producing against No. 2 Phoenix Greenway ace Kaitlyn Terry and limiting her production at the plate.
The Lancers (34-1) and Demons (29-3) meet at 8 p.m. on Tuesday at Hillenbrand Stadium, a venue Terry might pitch at in her college career if UCLA visits after joining the Big Ten.
Terry and Salpointe ace Gianna Mares, a BYU signee, are two of the best Class of 2023 prospects in the West.
Terry leads Greenway in every statistical category while Mares tops Salpointe in all but one — batting average.
Mares’ .490 average trails only Jordon Goedel’s .500 mark, but Mares has 62 more at-bats than Goedel.
Greenway relies much more on Terry in the circle with Salpointe second-year coach Tricia Sztan utilizing juniors Arianna Flores and Alexis Guzman often.
Terry (25-2) has amassed 396 strikeouts with only 12 walks in 163 1/3 innings whereas Mares (9-0) has 118 strikeouts and 13 walks in 69 1/3 innings.
Terry also is batting a phenomenal .706 with 23 home runs and 68 RBIs. Mares leads Salpointe with 15 home runs and 57 RBIs.
The key for Salpointe will be Mares being on top of her game in the circle while some of Salpointe’s hitters, such as Mares, Goedel, Anyssa Wild, Gianna Payne and Allie Hayes put the bat on the ball and make Greenway’s defense make plays.
Here is a statistical breakdown of the leaders for both teams:
BATTING |  |  |
RECORD | 34-1 | 29-3 |
AVERAGE | .410 | .372 |
RUNS | 374 | 317 |
HITS | 386 | 302 |
RBI | 326 | 272 |
DOUBLES | 71 | 54 |
TRIPLES | 15 | 20 |
HOME RUNS | 50 | 24 |
WALKS | 112 | 158 |
STRIKEOUTS | 151 | 167 |
PITCHING | | |
INNINGS PITCHED | 199.2 | 186 |
ERA | 0.98 | 0.79 |
WIN | 34 | 29 |
LOSS | 1 | 3 |
HITS | 116 | 57 |
RUNS | 54 | 33 |
EARNED RUNS | 28 | 21 |
WALKS | 48 | 19 |
STRIKEOUTS | 319 | 425 |
OPPONENT AVG. | .156 | .089 |
LEADERS | | |
AVERAGE | Jordan Goedel, DH, Jr., .500 Gianna Mares, P/RF, Sr., .490 Anyssa Wild, 1B, Jr., .489 | Kaitlyn Terry, P, Sr., .706 Grace Madril, LF, Sr., .427 Taylor Borup, SS, Soph., .413 |
HITS | Gianna Mares, P/RF, Sr., 50 Gianna Payne, 3B, Sr., 49 Taiya Teixeira, CF, Jr., 48 | Kaitlyn Terry, P, Sr., 48 Grace Madril, LF, Sr., 41 Taylor Borup, SS, Soph., 38 Kaitlyn Bennett, CF, Soph., 38 |
HR | Gianna Mares, P/RF, Sr.,15 Anyssa Wild, 1B, Jr., 8 Allie Hayes, 2B, Sr., 5 Krista Martinez, SS, Sr., 5 | Kaitlyn Terry, P, Sr., 23 Taylor Borup, SS, Soph., 1 |
RBI | Gianna Mares, P/RF, Sr., 57 Anyssa Wild, 1B, Jr., 42 Gianna Payne, 3B, Sr., 38 | Kaitlyn Terry, P, Sr., 68 Taylor Borup, SS, Soph., 43 Grace Madril, LF, Sr., 29 |
INNINGS PITCHED | Gianna Mares, LHP, Sr., 69.1 Arianna Flores, RHP, Jr.., 45 Alexis Guzman, RHP, Jr., 42.2 | Kaitlyn Terry, LHP, Sr., 163.1 Taylor Borup, RHP, Soph., 14.2 |
WINS | Gianna Mares, LHP, Sr., 9 Alexis Guzman, RHP, Jr., 5 Arianna Flores, RHP, Jr., 5 Allie Hayes, RHP, Sr., 5 | Kaitlyn Terry, LHP, Sr., 25 Taylor Borup, RHP, Soph., 3 |
ERA | Gianna Mares, LHP, Sr., 0.61 Arianna Flores, RHP, Jr., 1.24 Alexis Guzman, RHP, Jr., 1.64 | Kaitlyn Terry, LHP, Sr., 0.21 Taylor Borup, RHP, Soph., 2.86 |
STRIKEOUTS | Gianna Mares, LHP, Sr., 118 Arianna Flores, RHP, Jr., 71 Alexis Guzman, RHP, Jr., 70 | Kaitlyn Terry, LHP, Sr., 396 Taylor Borup, RHP, Soph., 18 |
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator five years ago and is presently a special education teacher at Gallego Fine Arts Intermediate in the Sunnyside Unified School District.
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