PHOENIX — Saturday didn’t get off to the best start for Ironwood Ridge’s baseball team.
The Nighthawks were leaving their Phoenix hotel for Chase Field and a 9 a.m. game against Cienega when one of the team’s vans wouldn’t start. I-Ridge made two trips instead, and a crisis was dodged.
Fortunately for Ironwood Ridge, the breakdowns ended there.
The Nighthawks, ranked 13th in Division II, scored in each of their first two at-bats before unleashing a six-run third inning on their way to an 8-4 win over No. 22 Cienega.
“Like we talk to the kids all the time about problem solving; you just do what you’ve got to do,” I-Ridge coach Dennis Toia said. “They definitely responded to the way we’ve played lately. We’ve been struggling, we played not up to our potential the last couple games and they really came out and responded so I’m extremely proud. I love this group of guys.”
Toia also has reason to love Chase Field. Saturday’s outcome also marked I-Ridge’s second straight victory at the home of the Arizona Diamondbacks; it beat Mesa Red Mountain 9-3 there last spring.
“The first year, it was all kind of a rush and it all just blew by really fast,” said I-Ridge senior Christian Pearcy. “I was hoping to get another chance to come out here and play. To get that second chance, you actually get to take in the moment.
“It’s a couple memories I’ll keep for the rest of my life.”
The two teams traveled to Phoenix on Friday and attended the Diamondbacks’ 3-2 walk-off victory against the Chicago Cubs before taking the field the next morning. The matchup also featured Toia, an Amphitheater grad, facing his former high school coach.
“This is just a great experience,” said Tony Gabusi, who is in his fifth season at Cienega. “You get out here on the field and there’s no bad hops. It’s an amazing field, the grass and all that.
“It was awesome and we’re doing our best to do it again.”
I-Ridge led 2-0 through two innings when Cienega’s offense came to life.
Izzy Carrillo brought in the first run for the Bobcats on an RBI single to right. He scored the go-ahead run one batter later, when Nick Gonzales sent a two-run double down the left-field line.
The three-run frame came to an end when Gonzales was caught trying to score after a dropped-ball strikeout.
“I know we didn’t win and didn’t play as well as we should have, but it was awesome,” Gonzales said. “It’s definitely something that I’m going to work even harder for, now that I’ve seen this place and how amazing it is to play here.”
I-Ridge quickly regained the lead from there, sending 11 batters to the plate and scoring six runs in the bottom of the frame. The Nighthawks were aided by three walks, in addition to some timely hits.
“Everybody just did their job,” senior Nick Estrella said. “Everybody put the ball in play, nobody tried to do too much. It was just a lot of fun baseball.”
Adam Mays brought in Derek Daly on a bases-loaded walk to tie the game. Carlos Mancillas, a junior, then gave I-Ridge a 5-3 lead with a two-run single to center field.
“It’s amazing to play in this stadium,” Mancillas said. “I was just trying to hit the ball, get the ball in the field and it happened.”
The Nighthawks pushed their lead to 8-3 before the inning came to an end.
Cienega catcher Dakota Martin hit an RBI single in the fifth inning but that was all the Bobcats could get before Pearcy moved from first base to the mound to finish off the win for I-Ridge.
“I just feel truly blessed that I get to pitch on the same mound as some of the legends who have come before me,” Pearcy said. “The van thing was kind of comical — it was a rusty start to the morning but we all got out here, we all worked together as a team and got the job done.”
