Sports

Ironwood Ridge sophomore Alex Rapp hit three homeruns against Sunnyside in the Nighthawks’ 10-0 win on Friday, April 12.

As noted before, Canyon del Oro junior Makenzie Sullivan hit two grand slams in the Dorados’ 18-3 win over visiting Mountain View on Friday.

Ironwood Ridge senior Devin Harrison is making a serious run for the Southern Arizona Triple Crown. The out fielder is currently tops in batting average (.548), second in RBIs with 38 (Zach Malis of Desert Christian has 42) and tied with several others with four home runs. Matt Bushman’s (Sabino) 8 may prove to bee too hard to catch up to.

Tanque Verde sophomore pitcher Kellye Springstead is also on the verge of coming out on top in several categories for the D-III/D-IV schools. Tops in average (.653), RBIs (36), home runs (6), strike outs (101) an wins (11). Springstead might not win the Triple Crown because Pusch Ridge sophomore Maddie Dowdle only needs two more at bats to qualify for the batting average list and she is sitting at 38-43 (.737).

The D-I baseball championship will take place at Tempe Diablo Stadium; the D-II at Camelback Ranch; the D-III at Surprise Stadium and the D-IV at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.

Eagles dig deep in comeback win over Bisbee in bottom of the 7th, 9-8.

With senior ace Sarah Chavez (9-4) working from the circle on a must win, she came through by setting a season high record of 12 strikeouts, the last coming in the top of the 7th with her team trailing 7-8.

Bisbee started the game on the fast track, scoring 3 runs in both the top of the 1st and 3rd innings. Bisbee’s Tiffany Lopez was instrumental in both innings, driving line drives into the outfield. She finished 4-4 for the game adding a double in the 4th when Bisbee re-took the lead from Desert 7-6.

In the bottom of the 1st Desert found itself down 3-0, but battled back with 2 runs. Chavez hit her 9th double of the year, scoring senior Emily Cooper, who stole both 2nd and 3rd base, after receiving a walk. Sophomore Courtney Tyra followed with a single to left field, scoring Chavez from 2nd.

After giving up 3 runs in the top of the 3rd on 3 Bisbee hits and 3 Desert errors, the Eagles sent 9 batters to the plate in the bottom of the inning, scoring 4 runs off 4 hits and a sacrifice bunt and fly, tying the game at 6.

Bisbee kept up the pressure on the Eagle defense by scoring single runs in the top of the 4th and 5th. The Eagles couldn’t answer until their comeback, loading the bases with two outs in the bottom of the 6th. Bisbee walked Chavez with the bases loaded cutting the deficit to a single run, and setting up for an amazing final at bat for the Eagles.

Chavez struck out 3 straight Bisbee batters from the 6th and 7th, took a soft grounder, and finished her stint by striking out the last Bisbee batter she face giving her a season high 12 strikeouts. Earlier this week, Chavez struck out 10 Willcox ladies in a tough 8-7 road loss.

Sophomore Lauren Radtke led off the bottom of the 7th and received a walk on 4 straight pitches. As the crowd and players cranked up the noise, sophomore Julia Han laid the “Perfect Bunt” down the 1st base line, beating the through at 1st, putting the Eagles runners at 1st and 2nd with no outs. The next pitch from Adilma Molinares shot past the Puma catcher for a passed ball, advancing the Eagles runners, putting the tying run a 3rd, and the winning run at 2nd.

Junior Alex McCale wasted no time, driving in the tying run with a single through the pulled in Puma defense, tying the game at 8. With the winning run at 3rd, the Eagles had to wait for junior Kylie Poplin, who had her best game offensively, reaching base on a walk and 2 singles. With the count 2 balls and 0 strikes, Poplin found the next pitch to her liking and drove it through a diving Puma defense all the way to the fence, easily scoring  Han from 3rd, giving the Eagles their 12 victory of the season, and back on track for reaching state.

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