Sunnyside’s “Cardiac Kids” struck again.
Sunnyside, which had two walk-off wins in the late rounds of the District 12 tournament, rallied for four runs in the bottom of the eighth on Saturday night to win in walk-off fashion again, 6-5 against Mesa Red Mountain in the game played at the Tempe Sports Complex.
Sunnyside advances to the winner’s bracket semifinal in the Arizona Little League Majors state tournament where it will face Chandler North, a 4-1 winner over Goodyear on Saturday.
Things looked bleak for Sunnyside after Red Mountain rallied for three runs in the top of the eighth to take a 5-2 lead, but manager Gabe Garcia’s team again proved to be resilient.
Diego Garcia, Gabe’s son, started the rally with a home run with no outs that also scored Santos Lopez (the automatic runner at second base to start the eighth inning) to cut the lead to 5-4.
Josue Espinoza followed with a double and then Christian Moran walked. With one out, Eli Urias singled to scored Espinoza to tie the game at 5 and move Moran to third.
On a pickoff attempt of Moran at third base, the ball got away from the third baseman and Moran scored the winning the run.
Diego Garcia went 2 for 3 with a run and two RBIs and Espinoza was 3 for 4 with a run, double and RBI.
Sunnyside improved its district and state tournament record to 7-1 with four of those games decided by one run — three of them walk-off wins.
Majors (11-12)
Tempe Sports Complex
e-elimination bracket game
Saturday, July 17
G7: Oro Valley 12, Phoenix Arcadia 5
G8: Queen Creek 5, Anthem High Desert 2
G9: Sunnyside 6, Mesa Red Mountain 5
G10: Chandler North 4, Goodyear 1
e-G11: Chino Valley 9, Globe Pinal Mountain 6
e-G12: Nogales def. Casa Grande
Sunday, July 18
e-G13: West Flagstaff vs. Anthem High Desert, 6 p.m.
e-G14: Lake Havasu vs. Mesa Red Mountain, 8 p.m.
e-G15: Chino Valley vs. Phoenix Arcadia, 8 p.m.
e-G16: Nogales vs. Goodyear, 6 p.m.
Tuesday, July 20
G17: Oro Valley vs. Queen Creek, 6 p.m.
G18: Sunnyside vs. Chandler North, 8 p.m.
e-G19: G13 winner vs. G15 winner, 8 p.m.
e-G20: G14 winner vs. G16 winner, 6 p.m.
Wednesday, July 21
e-G22: G20 winner vs. G17 loser, 8 p.m.
e-G23: G19 winner vs. G18 loser, 6 p.m.
Thursday, July 22
G21: G17 winner vs. G18 winner, 6 p.m.
e-G24: G22 winner vs. G23 winner, 8 p.m.
Friday, July 23
e-G25: G24 winner vs. G21 loser, 7 p.m.
Saturday, July 24
G26: Championship — G21 winner vs. G25 winner, 7 p.m.
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