Catalina Foothills seeking a different trophy on Tuesday night

When it comes to spring sports, Catalina Foothills is probably best known for winning numerous tennis state championships.

Now the Falcons are hoping to add a different trophy to the collection.

Seventh-seeded Foothills takes on No. 5 Payson in Tuesday’s Division III state championship softball game at ASU’s Farrington Stadium, with a chance to win its first crown in that sport. The only other time the Falcons reached the state finals came in 2001, when they fell to Sahuaro in the Class 4A title game.

Since then, Foothills has been known for several things other than softball. Third-year coach Mark Stevens perhaps knows that better than anyone else, because his wife, Kristie, has coached the Falcons’ girls tennis squad to 11 championships since that spring.

“I think our girls are very confident going in, and we all really expect to be holding up that trophy at the end,” he said. “I think it’d be super to throw that in the trophy case for the girls.”

Stevens felt comfortable talking to his team at the beginning of the season about getting to the championship, even though Foothills was coming off a 10-18 season, its seventh-straight losing campaign.

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“I thought we had the talent and the work ethic to get there,” he said.

On top of that, the Falcons were more than tested during the regular season, playing in a 10-team section that qualified six other teams for the postseason. The Falcons also went toe-to-toe with Empire, the defending state champion, and Yuma Cibola, which earned the No. 1 seed in the 32-team state tournament, but lost both matchups by one run.

“Everybody felt really comfortable that we could be anybody if we play our game and work hard,” Stevens said. “Playing all those teams really just prepared us for this run through the playoffs.”

Foothills edged out a 5-4 walkoff win against No. 26 Lake Havasu in the first round before going on to beat Douglas 8-1 to reach the quarterfinals. That’s where sophomore Nic Conway and the Falcons took down the No. 2 seed, San Tan Valley Posten Butte, with a one-run win before dismembering third-seeded Mohave Valley River Valley 12-0 the next morning to reach Tuesday’s championship game.

Conway has been a force in the circle, striking out 47 batters and giving up just one earned run though four state tournament games. She’s also batting .418 with a team-high 46 hits.

“I’m excited; I think the girls are very prepared, and I think they’re going to play hard,” Stevens said.