TEMPE — The Canyon del Oro High softball team had to wait a while to win title No. 9.
Play was suspended midway through the first inning for 30 minutes due to a lightning delay but that didn’t stop the CDO from finding a spark early on during Tuesday’s Class 4A softball state championship.
The Dorados came up to the plate after the delay and brought in three runs over the team’s first four batters to seize momentum early on. That opening onslaught was enough to propel the No. 1-seeded CDO to a 4-2 state championship victory over No. 3 Sunrise Mountain.
“It’s very sweet,” CDO coach Kelly Fowler said. “They were the No. 1 seed pretty much all year and that’s a target on your back. Every time you go play, even in high school, you get everyone’s best game… and we did lose some games, but the girls came back stronger from the losses. I was really happy to see them all want to win together.
CDO sophomore starting pitcher Halle Morris got the start Tuesday at Farrington Stadium, home of the ASU softball program, and pitched a brilliant complete-game performance to lead the Dorados.
Morris, who fractured her femur early in the season, held the Mustangs quiet for the first five innings of play, giving up just two hits through five.
Fowler said they went with Morris over freshman pitcher Amya Legarra, who pitched a complete game 7-0 shutout against No. 5 seeded Salpointe Catholic in the semifinals, to switch things up.
“Amya had an amazing game (against Salpointe) but we kind of felt Sunrise Mountain would prepare for her,” Fowler said. “(Amya) is more of an up pitcher and Halle can keep the ball down. We were just going to ride Halle for as long as we could through their slappers and keep the ball on the ground.”
While the Dorados started out strong, the final six innings of play were rather stressful for Fowler’s team.
Sunrise Mountain was relatively quiet for the vast majority of the game, as the team amassed just one hit through four innings of play before things turned around for the Mustangs in the top half of the fifth.
Freshman third baseman Summer Pells and freshman utility player Sydney Bickel opened up the inning with back-to-back singles, and senior shortstop Kodi Ramirez roped a double to left field to cut the CDO lead to 4-2.
Sunrise Mountain wasn’t done yet.
The Mustangs had a runner on second base and the tying run at the plate with two outs in the top half of the seventh. However, behind a strong defensive performance from the infield, Morris regained the composure she showed early on to halt the bid for extra innings with a game-ending strikeout.
After the game, Fowler said she’s happy to see her seniors go out on a high note and is hopeful this championship can propel some of her younger players for the future.
“The young ones see what it means to win a state championship and really that thrill of victory, and they want that,” Fowler said. “You don’t get that often in life and if that’s what you do as an athlete… that is the highest thing you can compete for: that state championship.”
