Longtime local sports journalist Brad Allis provided this report of Flowing Wells in the Junior State Baseball Tournament. 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.
PAYSON – Flowing Wells rebounded from a heartbreaking loss the night before to beat Queen Creek 9-4 and earn its spot in the final four of the Arizona Junior State Baseball Tournament.
Flowing Wells’ win ensures that Tucson-based teams make up half of the final four teams remaining in the 14-team field. Sunnyside is the other team from Tucson.
For the first three games of the tournament, Flowing Wells manager Gilbert Tovar went with a “win today, worry about tomorrow later” approach to his pitching staff. Although he had pitch-count limits he wanted to maintain, he was more worried about winning the day’s game.
Thanks to a pair of one-sided wins to open the tournament, he was able to keep pitch-counts low and turn to the bullpen, but was prepared to ride his starters as long as he could if it meant earning the win.
On Friday, he altered that plan, setting pitching limits for his two pitchers, allowing them to come back later in the tournament if they advanced that far.
Tyler Allis and Cruz Marcial combined to earn 20 outs, remaining under 65 pitches for Allis and 50 pitches for Marcial, respectively. They can now continue to pitch in the tournament if Flowing Wells continues to win.
Flowing Wells struck first, plating a run in the bottom of the first. Angel Sosa led off the inning with a double and moved to third on a ground out to the right side. Carlos Gallego walked, but Sosa was erased when he tried to race home on a passed ball, which took a fortunate bounce off the backstop back to the catcher.
Matthew Trujillo began the two-out rally with a single and an errant throw by Queen Creek, which allowed Gallego and Trujillo to advance to scoring position. Dante Tovar followed with an RBI single, but despite loading the bases, a force play at home limited the damage.
Queen Creek briefly took the lead in the top of the second. A double sandwiched between a pair of walks loaded the bases. A third walk led to Queen Creek’s first run, and a balk made it 2-1. A pair of strikeouts to end the inning limited the damage.
Flowing Wells took the lead for good in the bottom of the second. It loaded the bases on three walks, but with two outs, it had not scored. Jose Toyos was hit by a pitch, which allowed Omar Rojas to score and tie the game. Sosa singled to score Aaron Fontes. Sosa finished the game 3 for 3 with an RBI and two runs.
The bases remained loaded for a bizarre play that scored three runs. Marcial struck out, but the catcher dropped the ball. He could have stepped on home to earn the force out, but threw down to first instead, which allowed Brenden Shreves to score. The throw was off target, which allowed Toyos to score.
After originally settling for first base, Marcial broke for second. A Queen Creek infielder gathered in the loose ball and started to give chase to Marcial, but dropped the ball trying to transfer it from his glove to his hand. This miscue allowed Sosa to score and push the Flowing Wells lead to 6-2.
Both teams went scoreless in the third, but Queen Creek scored a lone run in the top of the fourth to cut the Flowing Wells lead in half, 6-3, thanks to a bases-loaded walk.
Queen Creek would not score again until the top of the seventh. Flowing Wells thwarted a bigger inning thanks to a strikeout and a double play.
Marcial, who had taken the hill in relief in the fourth, belted an RBI double in bottom of the fifth, scoring Sosa. Two walks loaded the bases and Tovar singled to score Marcial and Gallego.
Marcial headed into the seventh with a six-run lead. He could throw only a handful of pitches if he was going to remain under 50.
Sean Sandolo led off the inning with a pop fly that looked destined to drop, but Sosa raced from his spot at shortstop and dove to make the play near the left field line. Wesley LaCroix singled under the glove of the second baseman. He advanced to second on a groundout and stole third. He scored one pitch later on a pick-off attempt from the catcher.
With two outs, Marcial had reached 50 pitches and Flowing Wells turned to Tovar, who made his debut in the All-Star season. He responded with a full count strikeout to end the game.
Allis got the win, pitching three-plus innings, striking out six. Marcial pitched 3 2/3 innings, surrendering just a single, unearned run and one hit.
“He did his job,” Gilbert Tovar said of Allis, who left the game with a 6-2 lead. “He and Cruz both. They both did a great job.”
Allis and Marcial both used off-speed pitches to keep Queen Creek batters off balance. The duo allowed just four hits on the day and combined to strike out eight batters.
Flowing Wells will now face Cactus Foothills on Saturday at 6 p.m. in an elimination-bracket semifinal game. Cactus Foothills is team that has plays from Anthem and Cave Creek.
Sunnyside will play Litchfield Park at 6 p.m. Saturday in a winners bracket semifinal game. The winner advances to Tuesday’s championship round at 5 p.m. The loser plays in the elimination bracket final against either Flowing Wells or Cactus Foothills on Monday at 6 p.m.
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