The Cienega and Salpointe Catholic baseball teams gave the Cowboy Up Classic a fitting championship game.
Down a run with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the seventh inning, Cienega's Najee Gaskins hit a grounder to short that drove in pinch-runner Luke Morrison. A high throw to the first baseman then allowed Ryon Craig to score, giving the Bobcats an exciting 10-9 win.
“I didn’t get the pitch I wanted but I swung at it anyway,” Gaskins said. “I definitely did not want to be the last out so I hauled my butt down the line. I was trying to run my hardest and just heard the crowd.”
Earlier in the day, Cienega upset Ironwood Ridge to make it to the championship game while Salpointe defeated Sahuaro.
After seeing the first two innings of the title game go scoreless, the back-and-forth contest saw seven lead changes.
Dakota Martin, primarily a catcher, came on as a relief pitcher for Cienega in the sixth inning. With the bases loaded in the sixth, Martin had two key strikeouts to end the inning, keeping the game close. He finished with three strikeouts while allowing one run to earn the win.
“I was nervous because I don’t pitch,” Martin said. “They asked me if I was ready, because I wasn’t starting this game, and I said 'yeah.' So they sent me to the bullpen and then that happened, so I’m happy with it.”
Cienega got the scoring started in the third after Nick Gonzales hit a two-out triple to keep the inning alive. Tyler Black hit a grounder that jumped over the third baseman’s glove that scored Gonzales, giving Cienega a 1-0 lead.
Salpointe responded in the top of the fourth with three runs. Efrain Cervantes hit a two-run double and then scored on Michael Forte's single.
Cienega retook the lead in the bottom half of the inning. After singles from Dillon Howell and Gaskins, Terrell Huggins hit another single to score Howell and bring the Bobcats within 3-2. Nick Gonzales followed that with his second triple of the game, scoring two to give Cienega the lead again at 4-3.
“We felt if we could hold it to a one-run lead, we could at least tie it,” Cienega coach Tony Gabusi said. “Once we started getting the bases loaded, magic things happen. Too many walks and they gave some back and a clutch hit at the right time.”
Salpointe took the lead again in the top of the fifth after Cienega's Brandon Kaylor allowed one hit and walked four batters, which gave the Lancers a 5-4 lead.
Cienega had a three-run fifth inning including a two-run double from Gaskins to give the Bobcats a 7-5 lead. Salpointe responded with a three-run sixth inning to retake the lead, 8-7. In the top of the seventh, the Lancers another run when Tommy Garcia hit an RBI double.
“We feel fortunate,” Gabusi said. “Our guys are learning to battle. They’re learning to care and play for each other and special things happen when you get a group that believe in themselves like that, so it was a lot of fun.”
