TEMPE — Catalina Foothills’ battery of Cole Altherr and Dante DeNiro is among the best in Arizona.
And when coach Jim Baldwin has to call on DeNiro to take off the catcher’s equipment and close it out, the senior has been clutch.
He came through again Wednesday, getting the last four outs for Catalina Foothills in a 2-1 victory over No. 11-seed Phoenix St. Mary’s in a 4A baseball semifinal at Tempe Diablo Stadium.
Altherr had a no-hitter broken up with two outs in the fifth, then gave up his only run in the sixth, losing a 10-pitch at-bat to Aiden Sanford, who singled up the middle with two outs to tie the score at 1.
“Pitching to Dante for four years now, best catcher I ever had,” Altherr said. “Always trust him behind the plate no matter what happens. He’s one of my best friends.”
DeNiro had Altherr’s back after Sanford tied the game.
DeNiro got the first batter he faced to fly out, then, after giving up a two-out single to Gino Caperon, struck out the next batter to end the game, sending No. 2 Catalina Foothills to its fifth state final and first since 2010.
Catalina Foothills (24-7), which will face either Peoria Sunrise Mountain or defending state champion Nogales in Monday’s 7 p.m. championship game at Mesa’s Hohokam Stadium, has never won a state baseball championship.
Nogales beat Sunrise Mountain 6-0 on Wednesday, but must win a second matchup between the schools Saturday in Mesa to advance to play Foothills.
“It’s been a goal since the school began,” DeNiro said about taking state. “We’ve been there before and never won. We need to do it for our school, for our alumni.”
Baldwin isn’t worried about the school’s past state-final misfortunes.
“These kids are enjoying the moment,” Baldwin said. “They’re not worried about the state championship game right now. They can’t wait to get to In-N-Out Burger. Are you kidding me?
“It’s been a blast all year. I’ve never experienced this as a coach. They’ve been a great team.”
St. Mary’s left-hander Angel Montoya had Catalina Foothills’ fastball hitters out of sync through the first three innings, giving up two hits, before the Falcons scored in the bottom of the fourth on Matt Cullen’s sacrifice fly RBI. It was set up by DeNiro’s double and Altherr’s single.
Montoya was pulled after two outs in the sixth when Catalina Foothills scratched across the go-ahead run with two outs on a single by Cullen and a misplay in the outfield that allowed the runner to score from first.
