Copper Hills beat Santa Rita 14-1 Wednesday night at Field of Dreams to advance in the District 12 Little League winner’s bracket where the team from Sahuarita will face Sunnyside on Saturday. Sunnyside beat Southwestern 15-2 to set up the final of the winner’s bracket.
Southwestern, San Xavier, Rincon and Santa Rita are all still alive in the elimination bracket. The State Little League Baseball tournament will be played in Kingman starting on July 15. The West Region will be played in San Bernardino starting on August 5 and the World Series will be played in Williamsport, Pennsylvania starting on August 16.
Canyon View will represent District 5 in Kingman. The District 8 championship taking place in Sierra Vista will not be decided until July 9. Nogales and Bisbee are facing off on July 8 for a shot at Sierra Vista in the championship game. Sierra Vista beat Nogales 4-2 last Saturday to send Nogales to the elimination bracket.
Copper Hills dominated from the beginning thanks to the bat and throwing arm of Vinci Garcia. Garcia went 3-for-4 at the plate with six RBIs and he collected two home runs, including a grand slam. On the mound, Garcia finished with 15 strikeouts. He had a perfect game going into the fourth inning but Caden Esquerra led off the inning with a triple and scored on a passed ball. Micah Tiggas followed that up with a single to turn the unearned run into an earned run.
“I think everything went great,” Garcia said. “I had my fastball and changeup. I don’t think I’ve ever had that many strikeouts before.”
Gracia also said he was too greedy in his third at bat when he struck out trying to go for another home run.
“I was trying to do too much instead of just making contact,” Garcia added. “But I know my team has my back. We are teammates here for each other.”
Pedro Tolano went 3-3 with a triple and an RBI, Julian Urias went 2-4 with four runs scored and Austin Salcido went 2-3 with an RBI. Manny Martinez, Tiggas and AJ Romo all saw pitching action for Santa Rita.
The State 50/70 Baseball Tournament starts on Friday at Udall Park. Tucson Mountain will face Sierra Vista and the winner of that game will face Sunnyside on Saturday.
TUESDAY, JULY 2
D12 BASEBALL 8-10
Santa Rita 10, Rincon 2
WEDNESDAY, JULY 3
D12 BASEBALL LITTLE LEAGUE
Copper Hills 14, Santa Rita 1
Rincon 14, Pantano 0
Sunnyside 15, Southwestern 2
San Xavier 7, Palo Verde 3
FRIDAY, JULY 5
D12 BASEBALL 8-10
Sunnyside vs. Santa Rita, 6:30 p.m. Dreams (Championship)
D12 BASEBALL LITTLE LEAGUE
Southwestern vs. San Xavier, 5:15 p.m. Dreams (Elimination)
Rincon vs. San ta Rita, 7:45 p.m. Dreams (Elimination)
STATE BASEBALL 50/70
Tucson Mountain vs. Sierra Vista, 5 p.m. Udall
SATURDAY, JULY 6
D12 BASEBALL LITTLE LEAGUE
Sunnyside vs. Rincon, 5:15 p.m. Dreams
STATE BASEBALL 50/70
Sunnyside vs. TBD, 5 p.m. Udall
THURSDAY, JULY 18
WEST REGION JUNIOR SOFTBALL
(Arthur Pack)
FOLLOW @ANDYMORALES8 ON TWITTER!
Andy Morales was recognized by the AIA as the top high school reporter in 2014 and he was awarded the Ray McNally Award in 2017 and he has been a youth, high school and college coach for over 30 years. His own children have won multiple state high school championships and were named to all-state teams. Competing in hockey, basketball, baseball and track & field in high school, his unique perspective can only be found here and on AZPreps365.com. Andy is the Southern Arizona voting member of the Ed Doherty Award, recognizing the top football player in Arizona, and he was named a Local Hero by the Tucson Weekly for 2016. Contact Andy Morales at amoralesmytucson@yahoo.com
