Longtime local sports journalist Brad Allis provided this report of Flowing Wells’ game with Continental Ranch/Western in the District 5 Juniors baseball championship. Allis is the host of the Wildcat Sports Report podcast and is the Senior Communications Specialist for Pima Association of Governments. His son Tyler plays for Flowing Wells. Brad has been the president of the Flowing Wells-Amphi Little League Board.
The Flowing Wells Baseball Junior All-Star team scored nine runs in the first inning and downed Continental Ranch/Thornydale 16-4 on Wednesday night to sweep the best-of-three District 5 championship series and earn their second straight juniors title.
“We wanted to earn the right to play in July,” said Flowing Wells manager Gilbert Tovar, referencing the state tournament in Payson, which begins on July 7.
Tovar has led Flowing Wells to three straight championship appearances. His 50/70 squad lost in 2023 in the championship game. Five players remain from that team. Six return from last year’s team that won the junior title.
Flowing Wells jumped out to a 9-0 first-inning lead against Continental Ranch/Thornydale on Wednesday night. Nine of their first 10 batters reached base.
Angel Sosa led off the game with a triple and scored on a Cruz Marcial bloop single. The duo made up the Flowing Wells middle infield and turned three double plays.
“We knew we had to play better defense today,” said Tovar.
Flowing Wells did not commit an error after turning four the night before.
First baseman Carlos Gallego singled to score Marcial and two walks loaded the bases.
A wild pitch scored Gallego and an errant throw allowed Matthew Trujillo to score on the same play. Dante Tovar advanced to third and would score on an Isaiah Sanchez sacrifice fly to center.
Three batters later, Tyler Allis came up with two runners in scoring position and his single to left scored Jaiden Goldsmith. Omar Rojas Sr. scored on a wild pitch and Allis followed suit on a sacrifice bunt by Michael Osuna.
Max Toyos closed out the scoring barrage with his two-out double, which scored Aaron Fontes.
Motivated by a nine-run lead, Trujillo took the mound and cruised early on, pitching three scoreless innings.
Flowing Wells scored three more in the fourth, but reliever Justin McAllister settled in and pitched two scoreless innings after that.
Continental Ranch/Thornydale found its offense in the fourth, taking advantage of two walks and a single to load the bases. Daniel Hedgpeth worked a full-count walk to score Dylan Fought and McAllister then scored on a fielder’s choice.
With runners on the corners, Kyan Reidy broke for second. Instead of conceding the base, Flowing Wells chose to have Tovar throw down. Reidy slid in safely and the throw home was late, allowing a run to score. Steven Torain closed out the scoring with an RBI single.
The Flowing Wells bats came alive again in the fifth following a pitching change. Trujillo reached after he was hit by a pitch and took second on a bad pick-off attempt. He then scored on a Tovar single. It was a huge series at the plate for the Flowing Wells catcher, who drove in eight runs in the two games.
Tovar scored on a Goldsmith single, and one batter later, Isaiah Sanchez scored on an Rojas base hit. Goldsmith closed out the scoring on a wild pitch.
Flowing Wells needed three outs to invoke the 10-run mercy rule.
Trujillo walked the first batter but settled in and got a strikeout for the first out of the inning. He got the next batter to ground to Marcial, who flipped to Sosa, who made a perfect throw to Gallego for the double play, their third of the game and fifth of the series.
Trujillo earned the win, pitching five innings and giving up just three hits. He won both games of the series, earning a relief win the night before in a brief appearance.
With the win, Flowing Wells returns to the state tournament for the second straight season.
Although they went 10-0-2 in the regular season and won both games in All-Stars, it was a challenging season.
They saw three players from last year’s squad decide at the last minute to return and had to balance school baseball, club baseball and other sports.
“It was challenging,” admitted Tovar. “We had players rushing to practice or game after school practices or track meets.”
Those commitments continued into the summer All-Star season as all 12 members of the squad were preparing to enter high school. Five members of the team would come to baseball practice straight from high school football workouts, while five others were working out with high school baseball teams or club teams.
Continental Ranch/Thornydale also had a number of players playing football or baseball.
“We have some tired boys,” noted Tovar. “But they did not make excuses and put in the work.”
To make things even more difficult, the team welcomed four inexperienced players who had been playing baseball for less than a year.
“It was not easy, we threw a lot at them to catch them up,” Tovar said. “They worked hard and I am proud of them.”
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