YC baseball wins tourney opener 27-2 over Odyssey
Softball: Raiders and shamrocks eliminated
The No. 3 seed Shamrocks opened the Arizona Interscholastic Association 3A State Tournament in grand fashion Tuesday afternoon with a 27-2 demolition in five innings over visiting Odyssey Institute, the No. 14 seed in the tournament.
Yuma Catholic scored early and often en route to their big win. After surrendering two runs in the top of the first, YC roared back with five of their own in the bottom of the frame.
The first three Shamrock batters were able to reach base without the benefit of
a hit. With the bases loaded, cleanup hitter Nomar Topete was issued a walk on four pitches as Yuma Catholic scored its first of many runs on the day. All told, nine men would step to the plate in the inning.
Meanwhile, Yuma Catholic starting left-hander Mickey Fox shook off some adversity in the opening inning. In the second and third, he had opposing hitters off balance which resulted in a pair of strikeouts in each of those innings.
In the bottom of the third, a total of 13 men stepped to the plate and Yuma Catholic posted eight runs in
the frame. With two runs already in and the bases loaded, Anthony Carrillo drove in another run for the Shamrocks with a single to left center. With the bases still loaded YC up 9-2, Austin Priest emptied the bases with a triple to right center which padded the Shamrocks lead to 12-2.
After the game, Yuma Catholic head coach Judd Thrower was obviously pleased with his club’s overall effort both offensively and defensively.
“It was nice to see our offense explode in a big game. Hitting the ball around the park like that builds confidence and helps our defense
not feel they need to be perfect,” Thrower told The Yuma Sun.
Up next in the tournament, YC will host No. 11 seed Arizona College Prep on Saturday. Start time for that game is set for 2 p.m.
In other state playoff baseball action Tuesday, No. 16 San Luis was eliminated in the 6A bracket as they came up short on the road against No. 9 Tucson 7-3.
PREP SOFTBALL: YC and Cibola eliminated
In 3A state softball, No. 16 Yuma Catholic was overwhelmed in their opening round game with top seed
Sabino 10-0 in five innings. In the 6A bracket, No. 5 Cibola fell 6-0 to No. 13 Hamilton. With the Raiders season now over, Cibola head coach Shelly Baumann reflected on the year her team had.
“It was a great group of young ladies who played together and for each other,” Baumann stated. “We grew as a team and I was very happy with our progression. Still a long way to go to keep with the power houses in Phoenix, but we will always keep working hard. Head, heart, guts. We live by this motto and we improved in all aspects of the game.”