Third-seeded Salpointe Catholic used a complete game from pitcher Robert Lopez to take down No. 2 Walden Grove 4-2 in the quarterfinal round of the Class 4A state baseball playoffs Wednesday night.
With the potential game-tying run at the plate and a runner on first in the bottom of the seventh with two outs, Lopez struck out Walden Grove’s Milo Rushford to seal the win.
The Red Wolves had rallied from down 4-0 behind solo home runs from Rushford and Memo Metzler, but couldn't get past the Lancers. Walden Grove will face sixrh-seeded Scottsdale Notre Dame Prep on Saturday at 4 p.m, with the winner advancing to play Salpointe in the semis on May 11 in Tempe. The loser of the Walden Grove-Notre Dame Prep game is eliminated.
“They’re scrappy, they will not go away,” Salpointe coach Danny Preble said of Walden Grove. “We knew we had to earn the 21 outs.”
The Lancers started things off on the right foot, jumping out to a 2-0 lead. Leadoff man Josh Burke doubled to begin the game, followed by a walk from Mauro Acuña. After a passed ball, Salpointe got on the board with RBI singles from Jose Simon and Connor Raetzman.
“It was very important to get those runs,” Lopez said. “We wanted to come out and be on top from start to finish and that’s what we did.”
Given an early cushion, Lopez settled. The pitcher didn’t allow a hit until the fifth inning.
“Lopez was incredible,” Preble said.
Salpointe threatened to blow the game open in the second inning by loading the bases loaded with two outs, but relief pitcher Alex Urias-Calvillo struck out the first batter he faced, ending the threat.
The Lancers extended the lead in the third inning with a sacrifice fly from Owen Guest. A home run from Acuña in the fourth made it 4-0.
Walden Grove struggled to settle in offensively until late in the game. After getting their first hit in the bottom of the fifth, the Red Wolves struck out with a batter’s interference on a stolen base attempt that wiped out the opportunity. It wasn’t until Rushford’s home run in the sixth that the club got on the board.
“(Lopez) is a next-level pitcher,” Walden Grove coach Murray Hicks said. “It took us a while to get our bats going.”
The Red Wolves mounted one last rally attempt in the seventh. Metzler homered with two outs, and Walden Grove managed an infield single to bring up Rushford again. But the New Mexico State commit stuck out looking on a 2-2 pitch.
“Milo’s hit back-to-back home runs before for us this year, but that’s hard to do,” Hicks said.
All is not lost for Walden Grove, however. The Red Wolves remain in the hunt for the 4A championship thanks to the double-elimination rules of the tournament. They’ll also have two advantages going for them: they beat Notre Dame Prep 17-2 earlier in the season and they’ll have home-field advantage for the elimination game.
“Thank God we got another shot,” Hicks said. “We’re still in it.”
CDO tops No. 1-seeded Poston Butte
Canyon del Oro beat top-seeded San Tan Valley Poston Butte late Wednesday in Tempe, moving the Dorados into the May 11 Class 4A state semifinals. The Dorado will play the winner of Saturday's elimination game between Gilbert Mesquite and Poston Butte.
Fourth-seeded CDO beat Mesquite 2-1 on Monday.
