Quick Hitters
Seasons end for 3 local baseball/softball teams
Three local spring sports teams saw their seasons come to an end Friday with postseason losses.
Yuma Catholic’s baseball team lost 6-1 to top-seeded Sabino in the first round of the 3A state tournament, San Pasqual’s baseball team lost 4-0 to No. 8 Valley Union in the first round of the 1A state tournament, and Arizona Western’s softball team was eliminated from the Region I playoffs with losses to Eastern Arizona (3-0) and Central Arizona (11-3).
Lightning take 3-1 series lead with 4-3 OT win over Bruins
BOSTON — Dan Girardi scored 3:18 into overtime to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins on Friday night for a 3-1 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
The Lightning jumped ahead 2-0 for the second straight game. But this time Boston answered with three straight goals, including a short-handed score by Patrice Bergeron — his second of the game — to break a third-period tie.
Steven Stamkos tied it 3-all with seven minutes left in regulation. Girardi ended it when he got a stick on a pass from Alex Killorn that was deflected off Brian Gionta’s skate in the crease.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 saves for the Lightning, who will have a chance to clinch it at home on Sunday.
Make that 13 in a row for the Arizona Western baseball team.
The Matadors had to fend off a rally from Central Arizona, but were able to finish strong with an 8-5 win over the Vaqueros in game two of the Region I semifinals.
The win moves AWC (4513 overall) on to the Region I finals next week against South Mountain.
Friday’s game went backand-forth early but a big fourth inning highlighted by a home run from Sean Roby helped the Matadors take back the lead for good. It was Roby’s 17th home run of the season and he finished 2-for-3 with five RBIs in the game.
“It’s fun facing people that throw hard,” he said. “It gets us pumped up. We get excited with faster pitching and we do better with it.”
The win was AWC’s sixth of the season over Central Arizona (45-13), and the second
Arizona Western 8 Central Arizona 5
in two days.
Central Arizona went 45-7 this year against all opponents outside of AWC.
Just like one day earlier, the Matadors took an early lead Friday. Carlos Arellano hit a ball that bounced off of the pitcher’s foot in the bottom of the second to drive in a run.
The Vaqueros walked the next two batters, including a run walked in, before Roby stepped up and had a two-RBI single to center field to go ahead 4-0.
“We got quality at bats, more than I think what we saw on the other side,” AWC coach Drew Keehn said. “I feel comfortable saying that now. We just played better team offense.”
Central Arizona, which