Canyon del Oro makes it back-to-back state titles by upsetting Scottsdale Saguaro

TEMPE — Canyon del Oro started the baseball season slowly but finished fast to win another state championship.

On Monday at Tempe Diablo Stadium, the No. 5-seeded Dorados beat No. 2 seed Scottsdale Saguaro 4-1 for the Class 4A state title.

“It’s ecstatic,” CDO junior outfielder/pitcher Chris Humphreys said. “Frankly, at the beginning of the year, we didn’t think we were going to be here — and then we’re here. We just worked hard, we did our thing, we just trusted our guys.

“I don’t know, good things happen in May for Dorados.”

CDO (21-10) finished the season on a seven-game winning streak, undefeated in the state tournament, and won 11 of its last 12. The Dorados started the season 7-7.

CDO coach Jason Hisey said the team’s final day at the Best of the West at Peoria Sunrise Mountain was rained out in mid-March, and the coaches sat in their hotel room and brainstormed how they could get back on track after losing six of eight. He said they just realized they need to work harder, and the Dorados bought in.

“It feels unbelievable,” Hisey said about winning the state title. “Just, boy oh boy, this has been a special group from where we were a couple months ago to where we are today, pretty special group of kids.”

It’s the first time CDO, which has won state championships in every decade since its first in 1979, has won consecutive state titles.

“It’s legacy; that’s history,” senior pitcher/outfielder Lucas Casey said. “For a team that has so much history ... winning it just feels great. To be able to be the first one to do back to back, we’ll be up there on that wall, on the school banners, forever.”

Canyon del Oro is tied with Scottsdale Chaparral for the fourth-most baseball state championships with 10. Tucson High leads the way with 29.

CDO snapped Saguaro’s three-game winning streak. Saguaro (25-9) needed to beat Sahuarita 9-1 last Wednesday and 16-1 on Thursday after the Sabercats fell to the Mustangs 11-1 in the third round on May 3. The championship game was winner-take-all.

CDO junior center fielder Michael Jones opened the scoring in the first with an RBI triple, then scored when junior catcher Ernie Alvarez drove him in.

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Canyon del Oro added two more runs via Humphreys’ two-RBI hit. He would come in to pitch with one out in the bottom of the seventh to get the save, getting a lineout and a strikeout.

Casey pitched 6⅓ innings, giving up one run on four hits while walking three and striking out seven.

“I’ll just put it this way: We’re 21-10 now, is that the record? And Lucas is 11-1, so that pretty much says it all,” Hisey said. “Lucas put this team on his back for the second half of this season.”

In the bottom of the fourth, Saguaro loaded the bases with a hit, a walk and a dropped third strike. However, Casey got out of the jam with a strikeout.

Half of Saguaro’s hits came from sophomore center fielder/pitcher Cam Caminiti, cousin of former Major Leaguer Ken Caminiti. The LSU commit pitched a scoreless inning with two strikeouts.

Saguaro got on the board with a sacrifice by senior outfielder Donovan Davis.

Inside pitch

It was CDO’s 13th state championship game appearance, tying with Bagdad, which fell in the 1A final 13-3 to Hayden, and Gilbert. Tucson High is first with 42.

The title game was Saguaro’s seventh game of the playoffs, but the Sabercats played only four opponents in the tournament. They played Sahuarita three times and Flagstaff twice.