Here are a few bits of softball state tournament randomness while peering into what’s to come with tonight’s St. Mary’s-Red Mountain and Xavier-Buena winners filling the final two state semifinals spots:
It took a fifth meeting with Glendale Mountain Ridge to get here, but after the Gators defeated Mesa last week, Xavier coach Bobby Pena was fielding questions about the chance to face Buena again. The Gators lost 2-0 to the Colts in the second round of the tournament which dropped them into the loser’s bracket.
Gators senior Stephanie Janes has been as good a pitcher as anyone not named Escobedo in the past week. The key will be whether Xavier can string hits together, which they didn’t do the first time. Meghan McIntosh is a top 5 pitcher in the state, but the Colts were battered around by Corona’s bats. With Janes, Xavier won’t need to put up eight runs the way the Aztecs did, but the Gators will have to score, because Buena needed seven minutes to erase a 4-0 deficit against Corona.
On the other side, Red Mountain had a couple chances for the big hit early against Basha’s Samantha Parlich and couldn’t get one. It’s even more paramount against Escobedo. But they already know this, having dropped a pair of 2-1 decisions against St. Mary’s earlier this season. The Lions got very good pitching from Mel Willadsen (and Jess Donovan) and are very good defensively, but one run won’t be enough tonight.
Scottsdale Horizon and Phoenix Pinnacle play Tuesday, and the Huskies are in a pickle. Blaize Gatti’s group is trying to get into the 5A-II semifinals for the second consecutive year, except the Huskies have to play Deer Valley, who’s already beaten Horizon twice this year. The Huskies are 0-fer against Deer Valley, Ironwood Ridge and Sunrise Mountain this year, three teams which happen to still be alive.
