Cienega High School advanced to the Class 5A state softball final Friday night with a harrowing, extra-innings win over Peoria Centennial. The Bobcats will face Ironwood Ridge Monday in a state title game that normally would be played in Tucson.
However, television considerations mean the game will stay at Farrington Stadium in Tempe, the originally scheduled site, an Arizona Interscholastic Association spokesman said Saturday morning. The teams will play at 5:30 p.m. in a game that will be televised on tape delay by Fox Sports Arizona. FSAZ is also showing the 6A title game, which will immediately follow the 5A game.
The AIA scheduled all of this year's baseball and softball finals for the Phoenix area, but has moved games that feature two Southern Arizona teams or a Southern Arizona team (like Catalina Foothills) that has gone undefeated in the double-elimination tournament. For instance, the 3A baseball title game will be moved to Hi Corbett Field if Sahuarita beats Queen Creek Casteel in Saturday's semifinal; the other half of the bracket features two Southern Arizona teams, Empire and Sabino.
Here's a look the rest of this weekend's games, and next week's state title pairings.
Saturday
Baseball
Class 4A state semfiinals:
No. 1 Nogales vs. No. 5 Peoria Sunrise Mountain at Hohokam Stadium, 6:30 p.m.
At stake: The winner advances to face Catalina Foothills in Monday's state title game.
Class 3A state semifinals:
No. 1 Sabino vs. No. 12 Empire at Amphitheater High School, 6:30 p.m.
At stake: The winner advances to Monday's state title game.
No. 3 Sahuarita at vs. 2 Queen Creek Casteel at Surprise Sports Compex, 6:30 p.m.
At stake: The winner advances to Monday's state title game.
Monday
Baseball
Class 4A state championship game:
No. 2 Catalina Foothills vs. Nogales/Sunrise Mountain winner at Hi Corbett Field, 7 p.m.
Class 3A state championship game:
Empire/Sabino winner vs. Sahuarita/Casteel winner at site TBD, time TBD.
Softball
Class 5A state championship game:
Ironwood Ridge vs. Cienega at Farrington Softball Stadium, 5:30 p.m.
Tuesday
Softball
Class 4A state championship game:
No. 5 Salpointe Catholic vs. No. 3 Glendale Cactus at Farrington Softball Stadium, 6:30 p.m.
