Sahuarita coach Chris Fanning, who will be inducted in the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame in November, reached a career milestone Tuesday while trying to lead the Mustangs to another state championship.
Fanning earned career win No. 650 — with all of the wins achieved at his alma mater Sahuarita — with the 6-0 win at No. 4 Mica Mountain in a 4A second-round playoff game.
“I have great assistant coaches and I’ve been very, very blessed to have great talent come through the program,” Fanning reasoned for his continued success since he became Sahuarita’s first coach in 1993.
“From Day One, we’ve had good talent. We have good feeder programs … I try to not mess that up. I just try to work on a couple of things so we can be sharp when we play these types of games.”
Legendary @softballstangs coach Chris Fanning earned his 650th career victory with today’s 6-0 victory over Mica Mountain in the 4A second-round game in the playoffs.
Sahuarita advances to the third round Saturday.
The Mustangs may host the game if No. 9 Mesa Eastmark beats No.… pic.twitter.com/cQeH9hxWqZ— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) May 7, 2025
The No. 5 Mustangs (25-5) will play either No. 1 Flagstaff Coconino (26-4) or No. 8 Mesa Eastmark (19-8) in the third round on Saturday at 10 a.m.
Eastmark led Coconino 1-0 in the second inning on Tuesday at Flagstaff but the game was canceled because of rain. It was rescheduled for Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. at Anthem Boulder Creek High School.
If Eastmark beats Coconino, Sahuarita will host Saturday’s game. If Coconino wins, Sahuarita will travel to Flagstaff for the game.
No matter who the Mustangs play and where, it won’t matter because of the team’s confidence.
Sahuarita has won nine of its last 11 games with the two losses in that span against Salpointe and Empre.
“I love that this team is always willing to pick each other up,” Sahuarita junior ace Jayd Villa said. “Our team is very positive. We’re hardworking. When we know someone is having a hard day, we always go and pick them up.”
No. 5 @softballstangs defeated No. 4 Mica Mountain 6-0 in a 4A second-round game behind junior Jayd Villa’s complete-game performance. She scattered eight hits in her seven innings. The key is she had no walks to go with eight strikeouts. She battled through situations with six… pic.twitter.com/ObA0KaHg4N
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) May 7, 2025
Villa knows how to pick herself up in challenging times as evidenced by her performance against Mica Mountain.
She allowed eight hits in her complete-game performance, and Mica Mountain put six runners in scoring position against her. Every time, she persevered and did not allow a run.
The key — she finished with no walks and struck out eight batters.
“They had a lot of traffic,” Fanning said of Mica Mountain. “She didn’t walk anybody. Jayd has impeccable control. They had eight baserunners and they stole some bases.
“There was traffic, but to Jayd’s credit, when she needed to make the pitch, she made the pitch. When our defense needed to make the play, we made the play.”
Mayrani Muñoz produced as the @softballstangs’ No. 8 batter, going 2 for 2 with three runs, a double and RBI in her team’s 6-0 win at Mica Mountain in a 4A second-round game. pic.twitter.com/sOYgL4wPUa
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) May 7, 2025
Villa improved to 16-3 with a 2.13 ERA with 110 strikeouts and only 21 walks in 92 innings.
She also had a double against the Thunderbolts and is batting .452 with eight home runs, nine doubles and 37 RBIs.
“I feel very grateful to play behind Jayd because I know she is a great pitcher,” said sophomore first baseman Mayrani Muñoz. “She hits her spots and tries her best to not let her team down. She practices every day to make a perfect pitch to win a perfect game.”
Mayrani exemplified the balance Sahuarita has in its lineup.
As the No. 8 batter, she was the only player to achieve a multi-hit game against Mica Mountain. She had a two hits in her two at-bats with three runs and an RBI. She also got on base when she was hit by a pitch.
Her RBI single with two outs in the top of the second inning opened the scoring.
After the next player, Emily Donia, walked to load the bases, a throwing error on a groundball allowed three runs to score to increase the lead to 4-0.
“I still don’t think we’ve hit like we’re capable of hitting,” Fanning said. “The bottom of the order is the part that helped us out last week, Saturday, when we played Mohave (in an 11-1 win in the first round). The bottom of the order kind of got things going and the bottom of the order got things going today as well.
“If we can get that top of the order hitting like I know they’re capable of hitting, then the sky’s the limit.”
Brenna Figueroa hit an RBI double with two outs in the fourth inning to increase the lead to 5-0.
The Mustangs’ sixth run occurred after Muñoz led off the seventh with a double and advanced to third on an error. Eliana Romero followed with a sacrifice fly that brought home Muñoz.
Winning the game gives Sahuarita the luxury of three days between Saturday’s third-round game.
Mica Mountain (20-12) will play in the elimination bracket Thursday at 4 p.m. against the loser of the game between Eastmark and Coconino. If Eastmark wins, Mica Mountain will travel to Coconino. If Coconino wins, Mica Mountain will host Eastmark.
Sahuarita will take the day off Wednesday before resuming practice Thursday.
“We’ve been practicing since February, we did stuff in the fall, we played in a winter league, so there’s nothing new we’re doing — it’s just a matter of being fresh,” Fanning said about giving his players some rest mentally and physically Wednesday.
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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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