Sierra Vista beat Tucson Mountain 7-6 Tuesday night at Udall Park to secure the Intermediate Baseball state championship. Representing District 8, Sierra Vista went 4-0 at the tournament, including a 6-5 comeback win over Tucson Mountain in the first round last Friday night.
In that first game, Tucson Mountain took a 3-0 lead in the first inning, and eventually built a 5-3 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh, but Sierra Vista scored three runs to send Tucson Mountain View to the elimination bracket. The District 5 champions battled through the elimination phase with wins over Phoenix, Sunnyside and Scottsdale to set up the championship rematch with Sierra Vista.
In the rematch, Tucson Mountain took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first after Cipri Moran doubled and Nano Brito singled him in. That lead held until Sierra Vista posted five runs in the top of the third to go up 5-1.
Caleb Brown connected on a double with one out and then Isaac Torres and Max Pitts were both hit-by-pitch to load the bases and then Damien Jackson scored Brown on a fielder’s choice to tie the game up 1-1. Davian Estrada followed with a two-out double to bring in two more runs. Brodyn Quinn came up and he knocked in Estrada. Quinn worked his way around the bases on passed balls to make it 5-1.
Tucson Mountain responded with five runs of the their own in the bottom of the third with Brito getting things started with an RBI triple. Ramses Mada singled in Brito and then Tommy Padilla doubled in another run. Padilla scored on an error and the Tanner Thornton scored on a passed ball to give Tucson Mountain a 6-5 lead.
Sierra Vista wins the Arizona Intermediate Championship over Tucson Mountain 7-6 Next stop is regionals pic.twitter.com/YctOy3XIxN— Andy Morales (@AndyMorales8) July 10, 2019
Seth Spier reached on an error with one out in the sixth and then Torres hit a triple with two outs to tie the game up 6-6. Jackson led off the top of the seventh with a single and he went on to steal second and third and Quinn singled him home to give Sierra Vista a 7-6 lead.
Tucson Mountain had one final shot after Moran led off the bottom of the seventh with a single and advanced to second base on a balk but a pop fly and two strikeouts ended the threat and Sierra Vista came away with the win. Pitts and Torres threw for Sierra Vista while Brito, Padilla and Mada took the mound for Tucson Mountain.
Sierra Vista advances to the Intermediate West Regional scheduled to start on July 17 in Nogales. The World Series runs from July 28 to August 4 in Livermore, California.
In District 12 Little League Baseball action from Field of Dreams, Sunnyside beat Rincon 5-0 to advance to the state tournament in Kingman. Sunnyside will get a first-round bye and will face the winner of Canyon View and the winner of Nogales and Sierra Vista.
Nogales and Sierra Vista are playing tonight for the District 8 championship.
TUESDAY, JULY 9
D12 BASEBALL LITTLE LEAGUE
Sunnyside 5, Rincon 0 (Championship)
STATE BASEBALL 50/70
Sierra Vista 7, Tucson Mountain View 6 (Championship)
THURSDAY, JULY 18
WEST REGION JUNIOR SOFTBALL
No. California vs. Utah, 5 p.m. Pack
So. California vs. Alaska, 5 p.m. Pack
Thornydale vs. Washington, 7:30 p.m. Pack
Oregon vs. Flagstaff/Mesa winner, 7:30 p.m. 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
