The 6 greatest Tucson sports performances of 2016
- Updated
Here's a look back at the six best single performances of 2016 from Southern Arizona athletes.
- Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
When Tucsonans typically celebrate, it’s because Sean Miller has worked some March magic or the UA’s football team has made a sporadic run at glory.
Those moments were few and far between in 2016, with nary a Tournament run nor a bowl berth to bring joy to Tucson.
There were fleeting flashes of fun in both sports, but Arizona fans had to look elsewhere for satisfaction in what was widely considered a down year.
Here are the half-dozen performances — team or individual — that brought Tucson sports fans the most joy over the last year:
- Michael Lev
- Updated
When you have the type of season Arizona baseball enjoyed in 2016, it’s almost impossible to pin down one exceptional moment.
You could pick the 13-inning marathon win at Cal. The nail-biter over Oregon in the Pac-12 finale. The magical Monday in the Lafayette Regional. Or Bobby Dalbec shutting down Mississippi State in the Super Regional.
But the one moment that stands above the rest happened on a hazy Saturday afternoon in late March at Hi Corbett Field.
Arizona trailed UCLA — the best team in the conference for most of this decade — 5-1 entering the bottom of the ninth inning.
Then the Wildcats staged a rally for the ages.
Two hit batsmen. A single. A double. Another single. By the time Dalbec came to the plate with two outs, the game was tied.
The junior third baseman, who would be selected in the fourth round of the MLB draft in June, fell behind 0-2. After working the count back to even, Dalbec ripped a double into the left-field corner. Alfonso Rivas III barely beat the throw at the plate.
The Wildcats had a 6-5 walk-off victory. They mobbed Dalbec near second base.
“It’s a great steppingstone,” pitcher Cameron Ming said of the comeback win. “The motto going into the ninth inning was make something weird happen. Some weird things happened. Fortunately, it went our way.”
Beyond the rally itself, the Wildcats had extra inspiration that day. They had dedicated the game to Josh Weaver, a local teenager they had befriended who suffered from a rare form of brain cancer.
Josh died the previous month. A video tribute ran on the scoreboard before the game, and the players wore yellow tape on their wrists to raise cancer awareness. About 100 of Josh’s friends and family members, including his father, watched the game from the first-base stands.
The Wildcats had Josh’s battle in the back of their minds all day.
“It allowed us to persevere,” Ming said. “We didn’t give up.”
- Bruce Pascoe
- Updated
At Arizona, Senior Day is all but obsolete.
The Wildcats’ best players almost always leave before they are seniors, leaving ceremonies around the last home game of the season typically for role players and the odd standout who decides to return in an effort to improve his NBA stock or get a degree.
But Gabe York put together a memorable, old-fashioned Senior Day in 2016. Actually, he made it a Senior Week.
First, York hit three 3-pointers over the final 2:39 to lead Arizona to a 64-61 comeback win over Cal in the second-to-last game.
Then, two days later, he tied a school record with nine 3-pointers in the Wildcats’ 94-62 blowout win over Stanford.
“When you leave the Cal game like we did, I didn’t know how that would translate today,” UA coach Sean Miller said. “I thought maybe we’d have to settle him down. But, geez, he just picked up where he left off.”
York, who is now playing in the D-League, will no doubt remember the night forever. And so might everyone in the sold-out, crazed atmosphere in McKale Center that day.
“I just talked to a couple of my family members who were here on Thursday and they talked about how they had never heard McKale so loud,” York said. “I had a couple of people who have been going to games for 30 or 40 years say the same thing. I think what happened in that scenario was even louder.
“It was just a great feeling. It’s a blessing to be a part of this.”
- Zack Rosenblatt Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Not much went right for Arizona’s football program this season. No need to rehash it here.
Despite all of that, the Wildcats, somehow, finished the season as the Pac-12’s top rushing team, dethroning Oregon’s stranglehold on that statistic.
So how did that happen?
Well the run-first Brandon Dawkins started at quarterback and Arizona’s cavalcade of running backs, from Nick Wilson to J.J. Taylor to Samajie Grant, was, at time, effective.
Mostly, though, it helps to rush for 511 yards in the last game of the season, along with seven touchdowns, as the Wildcats managed to against Arizona State in the Territorial Cup.
With the help of Dawkins (183 yards), Grant (176), Zach Green (126) and receiver Shun Brown (30), Arizona set a school single-game rushing record, and helped UA beat the Sun Devils 56-35, keeping them from a bowl game.
The Wildcats were so top heavy in this game that Dawkins only attempted eight passes, completing three for 77 yards and one touchdown.
Because who needs to pass the ball anymore, right?
- Zack Rosenblatt Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Arizona’s softball team hasn’t advanced to Oklahoma City for the College World Series since 2010, and it’s largely because coach Mike Candrea hasn’t been able to find an ace pitcher to lead them there.
Arizona found a new ace in 2016 and, as a result, nearly made it back to Oklahoma City.
Danielle O’Toole won 26 games overall in 2016, but saved her best performances for last.
O’Toole pitched in every postseason game for UA, winning her first four in a row with a 1.34 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 26⅓ innings. Arizona wasn’t able to close it out, falling to Auburn in three games in the Super Regionals.
- Jon Gold
- Updated
Expectations were sky-high when Sydni Stallworth first laced them up for the Pima women’s basketball team last season.
Todd Holthaus could’ve told you himself.
He knew the gem he had in Stallworth, fresh out of Palo Verde High School.
Stallworth delivered in a big way, averaging 16 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists as a freshman en route to All-America honors as she led the Aztecs to their best finish in program history, 28-8 and a third-place showing in the NJCAA Tournament.
The ACCAC player of the year returned for her sophomore season even more seasoned, taking more of a leadership role and leading the Aztecs to a 9-2 record heading into their long winter layoff.
“I’m taking on the vocal leader role,” Stallworth said before the season. “I was kind of it last year as a point guard, but everything takes work, so it’s not that it just happened. Now I’m a sophomore, and it’s an adjustment. I learned from the leaders above me, and now I’m taking it and applying it to this year.”
- Zack Rosenblatt Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Catalina Foothills made history nearly every week last fall. Rhett Rodriguez led it there.
The Falcons’ quarterback starred in a state semifinal game against Gilbert Higley, accounting for seven touchdowns in a 62-37 victory. In doing so, the son of UA coach Rich Rodriguez cemented himself as one of Tucson’s great prep quarterbacks.
The Arizona-bound quarterback deferred to his teammates after that game, saying “the offense was really clicking … it’s easy when you have teammates like this.”
That goes both ways — Rodriguez’s teammates couldn’t have done it without him.
The final stat line: 311 passing yards and four touchdowns, with 69 rushing yards and three scores.
- Arizona Daily Star
When Tucsonans typically celebrate, it’s because Sean Miller has worked some March magic or the UA’s football team has made a sporadic run at glory.
Those moments were few and far between in 2016, with nary a Tournament run nor a bowl berth to bring joy to Tucson.
There were fleeting flashes of fun in both sports, but Arizona fans had to look elsewhere for satisfaction in what was widely considered a down year.
Here are the half-dozen performances — team or individual — that brought Tucson sports fans the most joy over the last year:
- Michael Lev
When you have the type of season Arizona baseball enjoyed in 2016, it’s almost impossible to pin down one exceptional moment.
You could pick the 13-inning marathon win at Cal. The nail-biter over Oregon in the Pac-12 finale. The magical Monday in the Lafayette Regional. Or Bobby Dalbec shutting down Mississippi State in the Super Regional.
But the one moment that stands above the rest happened on a hazy Saturday afternoon in late March at Hi Corbett Field.
Arizona trailed UCLA — the best team in the conference for most of this decade — 5-1 entering the bottom of the ninth inning.
Then the Wildcats staged a rally for the ages.
Two hit batsmen. A single. A double. Another single. By the time Dalbec came to the plate with two outs, the game was tied.
The junior third baseman, who would be selected in the fourth round of the MLB draft in June, fell behind 0-2. After working the count back to even, Dalbec ripped a double into the left-field corner. Alfonso Rivas III barely beat the throw at the plate.
The Wildcats had a 6-5 walk-off victory. They mobbed Dalbec near second base.
“It’s a great steppingstone,” pitcher Cameron Ming said of the comeback win. “The motto going into the ninth inning was make something weird happen. Some weird things happened. Fortunately, it went our way.”
Beyond the rally itself, the Wildcats had extra inspiration that day. They had dedicated the game to Josh Weaver, a local teenager they had befriended who suffered from a rare form of brain cancer.
Josh died the previous month. A video tribute ran on the scoreboard before the game, and the players wore yellow tape on their wrists to raise cancer awareness. About 100 of Josh’s friends and family members, including his father, watched the game from the first-base stands.
The Wildcats had Josh’s battle in the back of their minds all day.
“It allowed us to persevere,” Ming said. “We didn’t give up.”
- Bruce Pascoe
At Arizona, Senior Day is all but obsolete.
The Wildcats’ best players almost always leave before they are seniors, leaving ceremonies around the last home game of the season typically for role players and the odd standout who decides to return in an effort to improve his NBA stock or get a degree.
But Gabe York put together a memorable, old-fashioned Senior Day in 2016. Actually, he made it a Senior Week.
First, York hit three 3-pointers over the final 2:39 to lead Arizona to a 64-61 comeback win over Cal in the second-to-last game.
Then, two days later, he tied a school record with nine 3-pointers in the Wildcats’ 94-62 blowout win over Stanford.
“When you leave the Cal game like we did, I didn’t know how that would translate today,” UA coach Sean Miller said. “I thought maybe we’d have to settle him down. But, geez, he just picked up where he left off.”
York, who is now playing in the D-League, will no doubt remember the night forever. And so might everyone in the sold-out, crazed atmosphere in McKale Center that day.
“I just talked to a couple of my family members who were here on Thursday and they talked about how they had never heard McKale so loud,” York said. “I had a couple of people who have been going to games for 30 or 40 years say the same thing. I think what happened in that scenario was even louder.
“It was just a great feeling. It’s a blessing to be a part of this.”
- Zack Rosenblatt Arizona Daily Star
Not much went right for Arizona’s football program this season. No need to rehash it here.
Despite all of that, the Wildcats, somehow, finished the season as the Pac-12’s top rushing team, dethroning Oregon’s stranglehold on that statistic.
So how did that happen?
Well the run-first Brandon Dawkins started at quarterback and Arizona’s cavalcade of running backs, from Nick Wilson to J.J. Taylor to Samajie Grant, was, at time, effective.
Mostly, though, it helps to rush for 511 yards in the last game of the season, along with seven touchdowns, as the Wildcats managed to against Arizona State in the Territorial Cup.
With the help of Dawkins (183 yards), Grant (176), Zach Green (126) and receiver Shun Brown (30), Arizona set a school single-game rushing record, and helped UA beat the Sun Devils 56-35, keeping them from a bowl game.
The Wildcats were so top heavy in this game that Dawkins only attempted eight passes, completing three for 77 yards and one touchdown.
Because who needs to pass the ball anymore, right?
- Zack Rosenblatt Arizona Daily Star
Arizona’s softball team hasn’t advanced to Oklahoma City for the College World Series since 2010, and it’s largely because coach Mike Candrea hasn’t been able to find an ace pitcher to lead them there.
Arizona found a new ace in 2016 and, as a result, nearly made it back to Oklahoma City.
Danielle O’Toole won 26 games overall in 2016, but saved her best performances for last.
O’Toole pitched in every postseason game for UA, winning her first four in a row with a 1.34 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 26⅓ innings. Arizona wasn’t able to close it out, falling to Auburn in three games in the Super Regionals.
- Jon Gold
Expectations were sky-high when Sydni Stallworth first laced them up for the Pima women’s basketball team last season.
Todd Holthaus could’ve told you himself.
He knew the gem he had in Stallworth, fresh out of Palo Verde High School.
Stallworth delivered in a big way, averaging 16 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists as a freshman en route to All-America honors as she led the Aztecs to their best finish in program history, 28-8 and a third-place showing in the NJCAA Tournament.
The ACCAC player of the year returned for her sophomore season even more seasoned, taking more of a leadership role and leading the Aztecs to a 9-2 record heading into their long winter layoff.
“I’m taking on the vocal leader role,” Stallworth said before the season. “I was kind of it last year as a point guard, but everything takes work, so it’s not that it just happened. Now I’m a sophomore, and it’s an adjustment. I learned from the leaders above me, and now I’m taking it and applying it to this year.”
- Zack Rosenblatt Arizona Daily Star
Catalina Foothills made history nearly every week last fall. Rhett Rodriguez led it there.
The Falcons’ quarterback starred in a state semifinal game against Gilbert Higley, accounting for seven touchdowns in a 62-37 victory. In doing so, the son of UA coach Rich Rodriguez cemented himself as one of Tucson’s great prep quarterbacks.
The Arizona-bound quarterback deferred to his teammates after that game, saying “the offense was really clicking … it’s easy when you have teammates like this.”
That goes both ways — Rodriguez’s teammates couldn’t have done it without him.
The final stat line: 311 passing yards and four touchdowns, with 69 rushing yards and three scores.
Tags
- Sweeps
- Bobby Dalbec
- Arizona Baseball
- Arizona Wildcats Baseball
- Gabe York
- Arizona Basketball
- Arizona Wildcats Basketball
- Brandon Dawkins
- Samajie Grant
- Territorial Cup
- Arizona Football
- Arizona Wildcats Football
- Zach Green
- Danielle O'toole
- Arizona Softball
- Arizona Wildcats Softball
- Sydni Stallworth
- Pima Women's Basketball
- Rhettrod
- Rhett Rodriguez
- Catalina Foothills High School Football
- Catalina Foothills Football
- Foothills Football
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