SIERRA VISTA — Canyon View manager Jeff Casper knows all too well from his background at Salpointe and Arizona — a player and later an assistant coach with the Wildcats under Andy Lopez — that his team needs to maintain its focus after achieving a significant victory over juggernaut Rincon on Saturday here in the state Little League winners bracket semifinals.
Canyon View, Tucson’s District 5 representative in the state tournament, defeated District 12 champ Rincon of Vail 7-6 at the Stone Complex.
Rincon entered the game 6-0 in the district and state tournaments. It beat Arcadia 16-5 and Flagstaff 12-0 in its first two games at Sierra Vista.
Casper’s team will play High Desert in the winners bracket championship Sunday at 8 a.m. The winner of that game moves on to the championship round of the tournament Wednesday.
Rincon will next play Sunday at 8 a.m. in the elimination bracket against Nogales, which remained alive with a 4-3 win over Arcadia on Saturday.
Canyon View manager Jeff Casper talks about his team’s 7-6 win over Rincon in the state Little League winners bracket semifinal and the experience of the kids bonding together staying in a Sierra Vista hotel. pic.twitter.com/kogiRppnGV
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) July 20, 2024
“It’s going to be a challenge,” Casper said of playing High Desert, which beat Litchfield Park 8-4 on Saturday in the other winners bracket semifinal game. “You play a really exciting game against a team (Rincon) that you know is going to be very good.
“We’ve talked about it the entire time. The goal is we want to play through this thing. We’ve got a team that can do that. There’s obviously a lot of great teams here and a lot of teams that can so you can’t take one win and come out flat the next day. You’ve got to be ready to go and I’m confident that they will be.”
Casper was a four-year letterwinner as a catcher/infielder for the Wildcats from 1998-2001 after graduating from Salpointe.
He was a volunteer assistant coach at Arizona for Lopez’s first three seasons in Tucson from 2002-2004, helping the Wildcats reach the College World Series in 2004. He returned to coach with Lopez on a full-time basis in 2007 and 2008 after serving as an assistant at Yavapai Junior College in 2005 and 2006.
His son Casey is Canyon View’s third baseman.
The elder Casper told his team when it gathered after the game that beating Rincon was not its ultimate goal in Sierra Vista. Winning the state championship and moving on to San Bernardino, Calif., for the West Regional next week is what this trip is all about.
And it is a trip, although Sierra Vista is a little more than an hour drive from Tucson. Canyon View stayed at a hotel here on Friday and Saturday nights.
“Don’t mess around at the hotel,” leftfielder Grayson Dorland said when asked how the team will stay focused together. “We’re going to play board games in the lobby. We’re dialing it in with that mindset.”
Canyon View dominated the District 5 tournament going 4-0 and winning each game by mercy rule. It outscored opponents 63-6 in those four games.
Before that run, Canyon View played a friendly against Rincon on June 13 and lost 10-6.
Casper’s team has shown grit in the state tournament, winning three straight one-run games. It beat East Mesa 6-5 and Chandler National 10-9 before Saturday’s thriller over Rincon.
“It’s a tough group,” Casper said. “We have a lot of really tough kids. (Saturday’s starter) Austin Reddick was just fantastic. He never backed down, never let anything bother him, stayed in it the entire game.
“We just played a good, solid baseball game against a really good team and we’re fortunate enough to win.”
Reddick, the winning pitcher, scattered eight hits over five innings while allowing four runs with two strikeouts and no walks.
Canyon View took a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the second inning when Dorland and Miles Tweet each scored on a wild pitch after they earlier hit a single.
Rincon answered in the top of the fourth with two runs to tie the game at 3 behind a groundout RBI by Christian Diaz and a solo home run by Easton Watson.
Canyon View showed its resolve by immediately rallying for four runs in the bottom of the fourth to open a 7-3 lead.
“It’s not only the ups and the downs, it’s how you deal with them, and we deal with them great,” shortstop and pitcher Raj Abramian said.
Canyon View LF Grayson Dorland went 2 for 2 with a run and RBI in his team’s 7-6 win over Rincon in the winners bracket semifinal of the state Little League playoffs at Sierra Vista. pic.twitter.com/32E3LV10eH
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) July 20, 2024
Dorland ignited the rally with a double scoring Diego Moyers, who hit a single to start the inning. Walker Duncan followed with a two-run single that scored Conner Tumlinson (who earlier hit a single) and Dorland.
Sam McCarrell capped the rally with an RBI single to put Canyon View ahead 7-3.
“Rincon’s a good team,” said Dorland, who went 2 for 2 with two runs and an RBI. “The milestone is San Bernardino. They’re just part of the plan in the way. That’s how we treat it. Just keep doing that, win by win.”
Rincon cut the leat to 7-4 in the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly by Cody Brinkley that scored Rae Tanori, who hit a single with one out and moved to third on a single by Bryce Brown.
Canyon View shortstop/pitcher Raj Abramian went 2 for 3 with a run and also pitched the sixth inning to earn the save in his team’s 7-6 win over Rincon in the winners bracket semifinal game at Sierra Vista. He caught a line drive to the mound to end the game. pic.twitter.com/N1HOrA4mPE
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) July 20, 2024
Abramian relieved Reddick to start the sixth inning and he started with a strikeout. A grounder hit by Adam Sheppard resulted in an error. Hudson Haner then hit a ground-rule double that moved Sheppard to third base.
A single by Diaz scored Sheppard and Haner, cutting the lead to 7-6.
After getting the second out on a fly ball to center field, Abramian fielded the last out, a line drive hit right to him on the mound.
“I was thinking, ‘I’ve got to get an out here,'” Abramian said of the last out of which he fielded almost nonchalantly as a routine play. “Once I got the line out, I didn’t really realize what happened until like a second later.
“I think we played great. We had a lot of key hits. We had a really big inning (the four-run fourth) and we pitched really well. We had good defense. Basically did all-around great.”
Abramian was 2 for 3 with a run and McCarrell went 2 for 2 with an RBI.
Rincon was led by Haner (3 for 3 with three runs and two doubles), Diaz (four RBIs) and Watson (2 for 3 with his home run). Dom Hainley also pitched well in two innings of relief, allowing three hits and a run with two strikeouts and no walks.
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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 in 2016 and is presently a special education teacher at Sunnyside High School in the Sunnyside Unified School District.
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