The Canyon del Oro baseball team won a state title - with nine seniors skipping graduation.
Photo by Mark Jones
Denny Holland had meandered around baseball concourses for years watching his son guide the
Mesquite (Gilbert) baseball program.
The walk down the steps and onto the field was always a long, slow process while shaking hands with members of the Wildcats saying what a great season it was with a hint of regret.
Until Tuesday.
The elder Holland was making his way down the field from the concourse at the Tempe Diablo Stadium with tears in his eyes.
"That's my son," Denny said. "He can coach his butt off."
After seven semifinal appearances and two state runner-up finishes, the only coach the Mesquite program has ever known, Jeff Holland led the Wildcats to the Division I state championship. It was the first team championship of any kind since the school opened in 1998.
"Every time I go in the gym I see those two runner-up banners, I turn away," Holland said. "I wanted the real deal and I finally got it."
The second-seeded Wildcats (24-9) had to overcome a two-run deficit after
Liberty (Peoria) (29-6) plated a couple runs in the first inning.
"We've been doing that all season," said Holland, whose son,
Parker Holland, a junior, missed the entire season with an injury. "You are never out of a game, especially with the core seniors. They know how to fight back and there is no panic button."
Noah Cordova's first of two doubles cut the deficit in half in the second when he scored on a wild pitch and Mesquite tied it in the third when No. 9 hitter
Brit Fitzgerald worked a walk to lead off the inning, stole second base and advanced to third when starting pitcher
Andrew Hasquet's pickoff attempt ended up in center field when no one covered.
Mesquite took its first lead when
Bucky Dehority had a one-out single and came around on
Nick Daley's flare to right field off reliever
Tyler Wyatt in the fifth.
From there, senior
Josh Webster made it stand despite allowing the leadoff hitter to reach base in each of the first five innings.
"I had to dig deep and make sure those runners didn't come around," said Webster, who improved to 7-2. "I wasn't going to let my teammates down. We talked before the game about how we felt (after losing last year's title game) and we weren't going to let that happen again."
Division II
Canyon del Oro (Tucson) 3, Tucson High Magnet School 1Third-seeded CDO knocked off top-seeded Tucson High for its eighth state and first since 2009.
The game, held Tuesday at Tempe Diablo, was the same night as the school's graduation. So the nine seniors were handed a big, shiny gold trophy instead of their diplomas.
Tucson (28-6) had a chance at a rally in the seventh when runners reached second and third with two out, but the game ended when Tucson's
Nicholas Sandoval tried to score on a passed ball but instead was tagged out by
Nicholas Ames after the recovery and toss back from catcher
Hayden May.
Division III
Northwest Christian (Phoenix) 3, Walden Grove (Sahuarita) 2With runners on second and third with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning and tied 2-2,
Alex Wood roped a 1-2 fastball from Walden Grove relief pitcher
Cesar Garcia into left field, scoring teammate
Jake Huey from third base to claim the title at Surprise Stadium.
Division IV
Desert Christian (Tucson) 13, Ray (Kearny) 6Andrew Edwards took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and struck out 13 to help Desert Christian win its third-straight title.
Top-seeded Desert Christian (31-1) sent nine to the plate in the third as
Zach Malis hit a ground-rule double at Maryvale Baseball Park and later had a two-out triple in the fifth inning to beat No. 2 Ray.
Jason P. Skoda, a former Arizona Republic and current Prep Sports Director for 1013 Communications, is a 20-year sports writing veteran. Contact him at jskoda1024@aol.com.
