Freshman pitches Cienega to title
With freshman Mariah Lopez showing no nerves on the mound, second baseman Miranda Carley turning a big double play and two batters hitting early solo home runs, Vail Cienega was on its way to winning the 5A softball state championship.
The Bobcats beat Tucson Sahuaro 4-1 Monday for the its third state softball championship at Arizona State’s Farrington Stadium.
This is the second state championship in three years for Cienega (28-7), finishing the season on a 12-game winning streak.
“We talked about this day,” said Eric Tatham, who has been head coach of all three of Cienega’s state championship teams. “We never lost focus. We talked about never losing sight of that mission.”
It started with a first-inning, two-out blast off the scoreboard by Kaitlyn Anderson.
“I wanted to make sure we got ahead so we wouldn’t have to play from behind,” Anderson said.
Cienega made it 2-0 in the second on No. 7 batter Jenessa Jarvis’ drive over the center-field fence.
Those were huge home runs against one of state’s top pitchers, senior Lexy Coons, who came into the game with a 55 career wins and a 1.96 ERA in four years.
“Usually, we start off quick and today was no different,” Tatham said.
“We had great at-bats off of a great pitcher.”
A turning point came in the fourth inning when Sahuaro’s first three batters reached base safely with hits. But Sahuaro (27-11) managed only one run with Carley making the play of the game.
She snagged Robyn Oppel’s low liner, then flipped the ball to second for the double play. The next batter flied out to left to end the inning.
“This was her first year playing second base,” Tatham said. “She’s got a great bat. But she came into her own there at second base.”
Cienega scored twice in the third on RBI hits by Shae Bushey and Carley, who doubled.
“It really helped us out,” Lopez said of the double play.
Lopez was in command all but the fourth inning to pick up her 17th win.