When Arizona Interscholastic Association officials made the decision to move Monday’s all-local Class 4A state championship games from Phoenix to Tucson, they — wittingly or not — built in a little bit of travel time.
So fans of Salpointe Catholic and Canyon del Oro can watch Monday’s Class 4A state softball title game from Hillenbrand Stadium at 5 p.m., then drive the 3.1 miles to Hi Corbett Field in time for the 7:30 p.m. start of the 4A state baseball championship.
There might even be time for an Eegee’s stop along the way.
Either way, Monday is bound to be a big day for the Dorados and Lancers, both of whom advanced through the double-elimination brackets without losing so much as a single game.
Salpointe, 31-2 and the No. 1 seed in the softball playoffs, has outscored its first four playoff opponents by a combined score of 36-6. The Lancers are paced offensively by senior Logan Cole, who leads the team in batting average (.560), hits (65), RBIs (55), runs scored (56), doubles (18) and triples (3). Slugger Gianna Mares has a team-high 14 home runs and carries a 1.179 slugging percentage into the title game. Yannixa Acuña hits .513 and leads the Lancers with 34 stolen bases; no other player has more than 15.
Mares (17-0, 1.42 ERA) will face a CDO lineup that’s hitting a combined .441 this season. Senior Megan Clark leads the Dorados (33-3) with a .536 average and 60 hits, 46 RBIs and 42 runs scored. Naya Campos has a team-high nine home runs and is slugging .932. Freshman Amelia Streuber earned the win in the third-seeded Dorados’ semifinal win over Paradise Honors on Thursday. She carries a 2.12 ERA into the final.
The Lancers are 2-0 against the Dorados this year, outscoring them by a combined 21-4.
Canyon del Oro’s Blake Lehmbeck delivers a pitch against Gilbert Mesquite during Wednesday's Class 4A state semifinal game at Tempe Diablo Stadium.
Monday night’s late baseball game between the fourth-seeded Lancers and third-seeded Dorados will be the decider after the teams split their two regular-season games.
CDO (23-7) is led by Austin Madsen, who’s hitting .395 with five home runs and a team-high 33 RBIs. Fellow senior Jake Aykroyd is hitting .345 with six homers, and junior Lucas Casey is hitting .354 with six longballs.
Seniors Blake Lehmbeck, Dominic Felix, Marcus Delgado and Ethan Weidner have combined to pitch 151 1/3 of 190 possible innings this seasons. Lehmbeck was stellar in the 4A state semifinal, allowing one earned run over 6 1/3 innings.
Arizona Wildcats commit Mason White leads Salpointe in average (.446), runs (32), hits (41), RBIs (34), doubles (13) and triples (2). Sophomore Jose Simon is hitting .333 with a team-high nine stolen bases, and is second on the club with 22 RBIs. Seniors Robert Lopez and Max Smith and junior Diego Garcia have done nearly all the pitching for the Lancers this season. Lopez leads the way with 103 strikeouts to just 26 walks; opposing batters are hitting just .180 off him.
