Pitching, hitting and speed. Cienega appears to have everything clicking at this stage of the season and much of that progress was on display Tuesday at Salpointe when the Lancers beat the Bobcats 7-4 in an important nonconference game.
Tucson went 6-0 at the Badger Classic held at Cherry Field this past week to improve to 13-3 on the year. The Badgers beat Empire 7-4 on Saturday morning to advance to the title game later in the day where the team defeated Marana 16-6 in five innings.
The Plainsmen returned to Tucson this past week and left with a 4-1 record and an 8-4 championship over Scottsdale Saguaro Friday night. When the team bus rolls into Enid sometime Saturday afternoon, the Plainsmen will return with a 7-3 record and the hardware and bragging rights that goes along with winning a championship in one of the high school baseball capitals of the world.
The semifinals of the Lancer Baseball Classic are all set. Enid, Oklahoma will face Sunnyside in one semifinal and Salpointe will take on Saguaro in the other. The invitational is being played at the Reid Park Annex and will conclude on Friday night.
Marana beat Desert View 16-3 in the opening round of pool play of the Badger Classic on Wednesday but the Tigers were limited to three hits in a 6-2 loss to Empire in the second game of the night.
20 teams are slated to take part in the Lancer Baseball Classic scheduled for this week. The field includes two teams from Oklahoma, a team from Colorado and another from Texas. A team from Canada is also scheduled to attend.
I got an email about six weeks ago asking me if I would be available to cover a function I’ve covered in the past and this annual request is almost impossible to ignore since I teach children during the day and watch them play at night.
We are exactly two weeks away from the release of the first set of power ranking for boy’s and girl’s tennis but several teams from Southern Arizona have already started to set themselves apart from the rest.
Tucson and Catalina Foothills started their respective seasons out strong. The Badgers went 4-2 to take third place at the Red Mountain Lion Country Classic and the Falcons went 4-2 at the Canyon del Oro Dorado Classic but injuries, combined with a deadly schedule, has put the breaks to the Falcon’s fast start.
Rincon/University went 6-0 to capture the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) Boys’ Volleyball Invitational held at Palo Verde High School on Friday and Saturday.
Down 1-0 with one out and no runners on in the bottom of the seventh to Flowing Wells, Ironwood Ridge plated two unearned runs to come away with a 2-1 win on Friday evening. The victory pushed the Nighthawk record to 5-2 on the year and 2-1 in power-ranking games.
Canyon del Oro beat Sabino 6-3 Thursday to improve to 4-0 on the year while Sabino fell to 0-3. Leading the way for the Dorados was freshman Iain Morton. Morton defeated senior Rory Albrecht 6-1, 6-1 on the first court.
Ironwood Ridge plated six runs in the bottom of the fourth and another run in the fifth to comeback and defeat Rincon/University 10-9 in the second round of the Dorado Softball Classic held Friday in Marana.
No. 2 Salpointe beat No. 3 Catalina Foothills 57-55 in overtime Thursday night to set up a 4A championship game against No. 1 Shadow Mountain on Saturday. While Shadow Mountain took care of No. 4 Moon Valley with ease, the game between Salpointe and Catalina Foothills went down to the wire.
No. 2 Salpointe will play No. 3 Catalina Foothills Thursday night in a 4A semifinal game scheduled to be played at Amphitheater at 7 p.m. The winner will advance to the championship set for Saturday afternoon.
No. 3 Sierra Linda (26-2) and No. 6 Cienega (18-6) are all set to battle in the bottom half of the 5A semifinals scheduled for Wednesday at 3 p.m. at Grand Canyon University.
It was a bad night for the 5A teams from Southern Arizona as No. 5 Buena, No. 6 Cienega and No. 10 Sahuaro all fell in the quarterfinal round on Saturday night but the results were completely opposite in the 4A bracket where two powerhouse programs from the Kino Region will meet for the third time this year.
No.7 Cienega upset No. 2 Arcadia Friday night in 5A action to advance to the semifinal round to be played next Wednesday, Feb. 22 at Grand Canyon University. The Bobcats (18-6) are the only 4A to 6A team from Southern Arizona to survive the night. Tucson (6A), Marana (5A), Ironwood Ridge (5A), Pueblo (4A) and Canyon del Oro (4A) all lost in the various quarterfinal rounds.