TEMPE — With the big hitter up, the bases loaded and the score tied, all Sahuarita needed was a hit.
“I thought it was going to be caught, it was so high, I was like, ‘oh no,’” said Hailey Tanori, whose bloop single broke a 4-4 tie for Sahuarita in their 10-4 win Tuesday over Winslow for the 3A state softball championship.
Tanori, who came into the game hitting an unbelievable .616 with 25 runs batted in from the leadoff position, had four hits on Tuesday, none bigger than the sixth-inning flare.
“I’ve been in that spot multiple times,” the junior shortshop said. “Either you got to get the job done or you don’t. But you also trust your teammates behind you.”
Tanori’s blooper opened up the floodgates in a six-run sixth and carried the 11th-seeded Mustangs to their first state softball title since 2011 on a warm Tuesday night at Farrington Stadium at Arizona State University.
“Hailey is, in my opinion, one of the best players in Tucson,” said Sahuarita coach Chris Fanning. “I know we play in 3A but I would put her up against anyone in Tucson. She’s our catalyst, she’s the girl that gets it going and can’t say enough about the job she did.”
Not bad for a team which needed a play-in win to reach the state tournament proper and then pulled off upsets in every round, beating higher seeds each time.
“There’s been many ups and downs with this team but as this year’s gone on, we’ve gotten closer,” Tanori said. “I trust this team so much — they have my back and I’ll have theirs and it’s just an amazing feeling that they had my back on this.”
Tied 4-4, Claudia Martinez singled, Yaseli Mariscal singled and Paityn Arrington — who relieved Gracie Mejia in the fifth — walked to start the sixth.
Tanori, who had already singled, doubled and tripled on the night, blooped a hit into right center to break the tie. Kianna Galindo followed in almost the same place to score another run and then Solymar Navarro hit a two-run double and by the time the inning ended it was 10-4.
“We were a little off balance early in the ballgame, but we try to put the ball play and tonight they just fell,” Fanning said.
Arrington went 3 1-3 innings, allowing just one hit to shut down the No. 5 seed after Mejia allowed four runs in the first 4 2-3 innings, including a three-run third that left the Mustangs down 4-2.
Sahuarita, who scored more than nine runs a game all season, had a 2-1 lead in the second on Mariscal’s triple and Tanori’s second hit of the night but Mejia allowed three runs in the third on three hits.
Sahuarita got those back when Tanori tripled home Arrington and scored on Galindo’s hit to left in the fourth.
