Empire may have struck first Saturday, but No. 1 Sabino was never worried and came back to win the Class 3A semifinal baseball game 6-3.
The Sabercats will play No. 3 Sahuarita, which beat Queen Creek Casteel 12-5 in Phoenix, in the 3A championship game Monday at 4 p.m. at Hi Corbett Field.
The game will precede the 4A championship contest, which will pit Nogales against Catalina Foothills at 7 at Hi Corbett.
Sabino previously played Sahuarita twice, and won both times. But the Sabercats’ coach, Mark Chandler, said that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll win again.
Sahuarita may have the best pitching staff in the state, Chandler said.
“We were fortunate enough to get two wins on them this season, but we’ve always said the road to the state championship goes through Sahuarita,” Chandler said. “So, we consider ourselves an underdog.”
In Saturday’s semifinal game, Empire’s Ray Aguirre singled down the middle in the third to score Drake Bannerman, who had doubled to reach base.
Still, the Ravens’ early lead didn’t faze Sabino.
“There’s no panic by any means,” Chandler said. “We knew we were going to put up some numbers at some point.”
And the Sabercats did.
In the next frame, a walk, hit-by-pitch and error loaded the bases for the Sabercats. Adam Villasenor singled to score Gavi Coldiron and Antonio Fernandez Jr. and give Sabino a 2-1 lead.
“It felt amazing,” Villasenor said of his hit. “I felt like I could help out my team. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Tyler Whiltshire then scored Preston Clifford and Evan Fallwell brought in Villasenor to extend the lead to 4-1.
With two outs, Fallwell looked to steal second during Ryan Melendez’s at-bat, but was deterred by the Empire defense.
Instead of throwing to first to pick him off, the Ravens threw to home to prevent Whiltshire from scoring, but missed the tag to give Sabino a 5-1 lead.
Empire responded in the fourth with a two-run homer by Brandon Boisvert, but an insurance run by Coldiron sealed the game.
Whiltshire pitched the entire game and struck out 11. Nine of the strikeouts came after allowing the homer.
“I just wanted to be a senior, a leader for this team and just show no emotion out there — show that we can come back,” Whiltshire said.
If it were up to Villasenor, he’d play the championship game Sunday and just get it over with.
“I wish it was (Sunday),” Villasenor said. “I just want to play already. I don’t like waiting. I have so much adrenaline.”
Nogales beat South Mountain 6-5 on Saturday to advance to the 4A title game.
