Sabino makes it three straight crowns
Here is a roundup of the Arizona Interscholastic Association high school softball championships in the 1A-3A conferences played Friday. The 5A and 6A championships were played Saturday, but finished too late for The Arizona Republic’s deadline. Check azcentral.com/sports/high-schools/ for full reports. The 4A championship was rescheduled for Monday afternoon in Tucson:
3A: Sabino wins third straight championship
Tucson Sabino pitcher Riley Nielson and third baseman Madison FillmanMoreno converged on the third base line, starting down at a slow roller and praying that it would go foul. On the line was Nielson’s third no-hitter of the postseason, this time in Friday’s 3A state championship game against Winslow.
The ball didn’t cooperate, breaking up Nielson’s no-hitter with two outs left. Still, she struck out nine, walked one and allowed just two hits, leading Sabino to its third-straight state title with an 8-0 win.
“Riley is a workhorse and it’s incredible to watch her go to battle,” Sabino coach Cydni Cubillas said. “A lot of the girls look up to her because you don’t see an emotional reaction and that calms everybody else, including us as a staff sometimes because we get nervous and then you look out there and you see Riley calm as can be so she means a lot to us.”
Cubillas took over from Kyle Howell this past offseason and immediately built an intimidating schedule for the Sabercats.
In the season’s first week, they played 4A Tucson Salpointe Catholic twice and 6A Mesa Mountain View. While Sabino took its lumps in those games, the experiences helped pave the way for its 27-0 finish to the season.
“When we put these girls in positions to compete and they rise to the challenge, it just helps them improve,” Cubillas said. “It just helps them get better.”
Before Friday, Sabino had dominated the 3A playoffs, run-ruling Yuma Catholic and ALA-Gilbert North before beating Tucson Empire, 16-7, in the semi-finals. Amid the offensive explosion, Nielson struggled in that game, allowing her second-most runs in a game this season.
Against Winslow, the senior immediately put the semi-final behind her, striking out three batters around a lone walk.
— Theo Mackie, The Arizona Republic
2A: Round Valley over Kingman Academy
At one point, midway through the fourth inning Friday night, both Eagar Round Valley and Kingman Academy had two hits. That’s where the similarities ended. Round Valley led, 8-1, aided by five Kingman Academy errors. By the end of the night, the number of errors was six, handing Round Valley a 12-2 win and the 2A state championship, its first since 1991.
For the Elks, this was all part of the game plan.
“We came in wanting to go to small ball first and see if they made mistakes and then the second and third time through, try to start hitting the ball and it worked out today,” Round Valley coach Darin Emerald said. “… We watched them play, we knew they made some errors over there on that side.”
Round Valley pushed across two first inning runs without a hit. The Elks’ success was enabled by an error, walk and two passed balls. The second inning, meanwhile, brought five runs on just two hits as a similar story unfolded for Kingman Academy’s defense.
On the other side, Round Valley’s defense was excellent. After Kingman Academy got on board in the top of the first, the Elks responded by nailing Aspen Johnson with an outfield assist, thwarting a potential sacrifice fly that would have made it 2-0.
“I just think that our pitcher trusts us so we know we have to back her up,” junior shortstop Kayla Logan said of the defense. “We just work hard.”
Round Valley also got a strong start out of senior pitcher Kyrie Walker. Walker has split time in the circle with junior Allyson Muth this year, but Emerald trusted his senior in the season’s biggest moment.
Although she only struck out two batters, Walker avoided hard contact all night, allowing just four hits.
— Theo Mackie, The Arizona Republic
1A: Superior defeats San Manuel
Shortly after being doused by a celebratory water bath, Al Lopez got his hands on the hardware.
As he took hold of the 1A Division State Championship trophy Friday, Lopez walked away from the dugout and towards the jubilant crowd at Arizona State’s Farrington Softball Stadium. Protective netting couldn’t stop the booming cheers of Superior Junior/Senior High School’s fans from radiating across the structure as their head softball coach lifted his team’s award into the air.
“It just makes me so happy,” Lopez said. “I can’t express it.”
The Panthers’ 6-3 win over San Manuel Junior/Senior High School was driven by stellar pitching, clutch hitting and taking advantage in key situations. Pitcher Danika Bryant, committed to the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, struck out 13. Meanwhile, the Panthers, who took their first lead in the fifth inning, surged in the seventh by scoring three runs.
Now, the town of just over 3,000 is on the Arizona high school softball map.
“All the support is also a big reason why we won,” said Bryant, whose family was in attendance. “They bumped our momentum up when we were down. Everything was a team effort. It was a town effort.”
Even though Bryant was walked in all of her four batting attempts, three of them intentionally, her teammates catalyzed a successful offensive effort. However, facing the Miners’ Jazmyne Waddell, who Lopez called a “really good” pitcher, was a challenge throughout the night.
This was evident in the first two innings, as Superior went scoreless. Meanwhile, Waddell’s triple kicked off a two-run first inning for San Manuel.
Although that lead didn’t last long, as first baseman Myika Cruz’s shot to left field helped bring in a runner. Later, she was brought home thanks to a hard-hit ball through the gap between first and second base.
Cruz, who finished 4-for-four, made it around the bases in the fifth inning to give the Panthers a 3-2 lead, its first of the game.
“My team definitely backed me up... offensively,” Bryant said. “There’s nothing more I can say than that.”