Catalina Foothills is knocking on the door again for a state championship.
Won’t someone please let them in?
The top-seeded Falcons (27-2-1) are 0-5 in championship games heading into Tuesday night’s 5A title game with No. 2 Queen Creek Casteel (26-6). The game at Tempe Diablo Stadium starts at 4 p.m.
Lance Robertson is back for another try with Catalina Foothills after coaching the Falcons to the 4A Division I championship game in 2010, when they lost to Scottsdale Saguaro.
He left the program following the 2012 and has coached at Pusch Ridge and Ironwood Ridge before returning to the Falcons this season. He has spent the last 15 years being the kinetic wellness instructor in the Catalina Foothills School District.
Robertson has senior leadership mixed with good young talent.
Senior left fielder Jaden Keenan leads the team with a .440 batting average followed by fellow seniors Anthony Diaz (center fielder at .370) and Troy Sanders (shortstop at .361).
Diaz has signed with Central Florida and Sanders is a son of Baltimore Orioles first-base coach Anthony Sanders, a Santa Rita alum. Sanders is headed to Grand Canyon.
Senior left-hander Ethan Bell is the team’s ace, pitching 67 2/3 innings this year with a 1.86 ERA. He is 9-0 with 58 strikeouts and 15 walks.
Sophomore first baseman/left-handed pitcher Ganon Dwyer has already committed to Arizona. He is second on the team in RBIs (24) and ERA (1.87).
Casteel has two Arizona commits as batterymates — Class of 2024 prospects Mason Russell, a left-hander, and Kade Thompson, a catcher.
Russell pitched a no-hitter in Casteel’s 5-0 win over Nogales in the semifinals last week. He struck out six and walked one. He faced 23 batters, two over the minimum.
Here is a statistical breakdown of the leaders for both teams:
BATTING |  |  |
RECORD | 26-6 | 27-2-1 |
AVERAGE | .378 | .331 |
RUNS | 255 | 232 |
HITS | 308 | 274 |
RBI | 222 | 191 |
DOUBLES | 59 | 53 |
TRIPLES | 5 | 14 |
HOME RUNS | 26 | 20 |
WALKS | 153 | 117 |
STRIKEOUTS | 120 | 137 |
PITCHING | | |
INNINGS PITCHED | 201.1 | 190 |
ERA | 2.50 | 2.99 |
WIN | 26 | 27 |
LOSS | 6 | 2 |
TIE | 0 | 1 |
HITS | 177 | 165 |
RUNS | 107 | 100 |
EARNED RUNS | 72 | 74 |
WALKS | 109 | 109 |
STRIKEOUTS | 231 | 199 |
OPPONENT AVG. | .228 | .213 |
LEADERS | | |
AVERAGE | Landon Hairston, UT, Jr., .495 Connor Russell, OF, Fr., .440 Ryan Harwood, UT, Fr., .427 | Jaden Keenan, LF, Sr., .440 Anthony Diaz, CF, Sr., .370 Troy Sanders, SS, Sr., .361 |
HITS | Landon Hairston, UT, Jr., 46 Ryan Harwood, UT, Fr., 38 Kyler Anderson, INF, Jr., 35 | Troy Sanders, SS, Sr., 35 Anthony Diaz, CF, Sr., 34 Ganon Dwyer, 1B, Soph., 31 |
HR | Crew Price, OF, Sr., 11 Landon Hairston, UT, Jr., 7 Tyler Hatch, INF, Jr., 2 | Kincaid Bergthold, C, Sr., 5 Anthony Diaz, CF, Sr., 4 Troy Sanders, SS, Sr., 3 Nate Shoemaker, DH, Soph., 3 |
RBI | Landon Hairston, UT, Jr., 34 Crew Price, OF, Sr., 30 Ryan Harwood, UT, Fr., 27 | Anthony Diaz, CF, Sr., 38 Ganon Dwyer, 1B, Soph., 24 Kincaid Bergthold, C, Sr., 23 |
INNINGS PITCHED | Gabe Schneider, RHP, Jr., 40 Nick Dale, RHP, Sr., 39 Linden Raeburn, RHP, Soph., 24.2 | Ethan Bell, LHP, Sr., 67.2 Ganon Dwyer, LHP, Soph., 30 Jaden Keenan, LHP, Sr., 29.1 |
WINS | Gabe Schneider, RHP, Jr., 6 Nick Dale, RHP, Sr., 4 Linden Raeburn, RHP, Soph., 3 Mason Russell, LHP, Jr., 3 Payton Denny, LHP, Jr., 3 | Ethan Bell, LHP, Sr., 9 Ganon Dwyer, LHP, Soph., 6 Jaden Keenan, LHP, Sr., 4 Matt Adams, RHP, Sr., 4 |
ERA | Gabe Schneider, RHP, Jr., 1.40 Payton Denny, LHP, Jr., 1.42 Nick Dale, RHP, Sr., 2.33 | Ethan Bell, LHP, Sr., 1.86 Ganon Dwyer, LHP, Soph., 1.87 Matt Adams, RHP, Sr., 2.85 |
STRIKEOUTS | Nick Dale, RHP, Sr., 37 Gabe Schneider, RHP, Jr., 36 Linden Raeburn, RHP, Soph., 22 | Ethan Bell, LHP, Sr., 58 Jaden Keenan, LHP, Sr., 42 Ganon Dwyer, LHP, Soph., 37 |
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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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