Leading the charge
is the 2021 Yuma Sun/Yuma Rotary Club Girls Basketball Player of the Year.
Meerchaum helped yC earn 2nd quarterfinals appearance in school history
Safe to say, the 5-foot-7 senior flourished.
As the main ball handler, Meerchaum nearly tripled her points per game and averaged 16.1 points in her final season as a Shamrock.
Her ability to push the basketball on the break, score at will and find open teammates led to Meerchaum earning the 2021 Yuma Sun/Yuma Rotary Club Girls Basketball Player of the Year award.
“I was (surprised),” Meerchaum admitted on winning the honor as the top girl’s player in town. “It means a lot to me, especially since I’ve been playing basketball for quite sometime and it shows my hard work has paid off.”
Meerchaum’s dedication inside the gym translated into an impressive senior season. Not only did her points per game skyrocket, Meerchaum doubled her amount of steals per game
Yuma Catholic’s Kylie Meerchaum made one three-pointer all season. That’s all the Shamrocks needed out of their senior point guard.
Meerchaum’s game-tying triple against Gilbert Christian with mere seconds remaining on the clock, helped YC advance to the Arizona Interscholastic Associations quarterfinals round for the second time in program history.
“That sure was (a big moment),” she said with a smile. “I’m just glad it went in.”
Meerchaum, who averaged just 5.7 points per game as a junior, took over the team’s point guard duties in 2021.
Matadors have played in nearly a month, since a March 10 victory in Yuma over Cochise.
Arizona Western will aim to continue the road warrior mentality when they head to Thatcher, Arizona on Friday night at 7 p.m. for the Region I Final against Eastern Arizona. The game will be streamed by the Eastern Arizona College Athletic Department.
JUCO baseball
Early leads for the Arizona Western Matadors (20-8 overall, 12-6 ACCAC) turned into a split of decisions against the South Mountain Cougars (22-9 overall, 16-8 ACCAC) Tuesday afternoon.
Dylan Edmands first inning RBI gave Matador starter Elvis Parra plenty of room to work with, as the Matadors would open up to 6-2, before South Mountain rallied in the seventh.
Ultimately, AWC closed out the 6-5 win in game one.
The Matadors again took an early lead in game two, but sparked by a two run homer, the Cougars struck for a five-run fourth inning to turn the tables.
South Mountain held on to the 8-3 decision to force the split.
Arizona Western will return to Yuma on Thursday for a double-header make-up against Mesa at Kammann Field beginning at noon. Both games will be streamed on the Matador Athletics Facebook Page.
- From Tim Slack of AWC
Prep baseball
Gila Ridge 5, Centennial 4
Gila Ridge’s Leo Magallanes walked it off Tuesday for the Hawks as his base hit knocked in Alex Guerra.
Magallanes was 2-for-4 with that lone RBI in the win.
Guerra threw a complete game, allowing four runs (0 ER), on four hits and struck out four.
He was also 2-for-2 at the plate with a double and a single.
Cibola 11, Kofa 3
The Raiders collected 10 base hits in the win. Antonio Torres and Nitsuga Jimenez eached delivered two RBIs.
Silvestere Curiel pitched five strong innings for Cibola. The junior allowed five hits, one earned one and struck out six Kofa batters.
Kofa’s J.J. Ortiz was 1-for-3 at the plate with an RBI. He also struck out three in four innings on the mound.
Yuma 10, Dysart 0 (G1) Damian Cabrera threw a no-hitter and went 2-for-2 at the plate with two RBIs. Cabrera pitched all five innings, allowed one walk and struck out nine.
Alan Elizalde was 1-for-3 with two RBIs.
Yuma 12, Dysart 4 (G2) Justin Bouts earned the win on the mound. He was also 3-for-4 with five RBIs at the plate. Damian Cabrera turned around after his no-hitter and went 3-for-3 hitting with an RBI.
Ilan Rendon was 2-for-3 with a two-rbi triple. Odyssey 10, YC 0
Yuma Catholic suffered its first loss of the season.
Austin Priest went three innings, allowed six runs (one earned), three hits and struck out four.
Jonah Leon was 1-for3 with two stolen bases. Issac Araiza went 1-for-1 with two walks and a stolen base.
Prep softball Cibola 10, Kofa 8
Delaine
Ott,
Maleia
Padilla and Madison Mathews all knocked in two runs in the Raiders’ victory over the Kings.
Elysa Moreno collected three hits out of the leadoff position for Cibola and Mathews finished 3-for-3 at the plate.
Kofa’s Cassandra Castillo, Vanessa Porchas and Daniella Elias each had one RBI.
Keileen Negrete finished 1-for-4 at the plate with two RBIs.
Centennial 3, Gila Ridge 1
Tinley Schmidgall allowed five hits, while striking out four.
Schmidgall, Cass Stanton and Tamia Butler collected the only three hits for the Hawks in the loss.
Prep boys tennis Kofa 5, Cibola 4
The Kings are back in the win column after suffering their first loss of the season on Saturday.
The Kings and Raiders split the singles session before Kofa took two of three in the doubles matches.
Leonardo Caudillo, who improves to 14-0 on the year, Diego Juarez and Saul Graciano earned the singles wins for the Kings.
Diego Servin, Brody Clarkson and Owen Gillette won their individual matches for the Raiders.
However, the duo of Caudillo/Juarez and Graciano/Alberto Aros got the two pivotal wins in the doubles matches.
Prep girls tennis Kofa 5, Cibola 4
Abigail Anguiano, Amanda Kochis and Athena Sandoval earned the singles match victories for the Kings, while Makyla Kerekes, Roxana Negrete and Sophia Garcia won for the Raiders.
Azalia Lara/Kochis and Sandoval/Anguiano helped the Kings take two of three in the doubles matches.