….either Basha or Red Mountain.
(How’s that for sitting firmly on the fence?)
Actually, it’ll be a fun Friday (Seton Catholic faces Phoenix Greenway in the 4A-II title game in a few hours, and the Sentinels absolutely want payback for Greenway ending Seton’s 2008 season in the semifinals).
Allow me to save everyone time and effort by telling the masses exactly what’s going to happen between the Bears and Lions come 8:07 p.m.
Here’s one amateur viewer’s breakdown:
Pitching: Sam Parlich (Basha) and Mel Willadsen (Red Mountain) are two of the top three East Valley pitchers in 5A-I. The ASU-bound Parlich has been dominant the past two seasons because of her velocity and riseball, and seemed to have found a second gear in Game 2 against St. Mary’s in Wednesday’s semifinals. She was roughed up early in last year’s state championship game against Corona del Sol, but found her groove in the middle innings and won.
Willadsen, a junior, has been as good or better than Parlich during this tournament. Though not as unhittable as Parlich can be, Willadsen gets strikeouts when she needs them, and she constantly moves the ball back and forth around the strike zone with pristine location. This will be her first appearance under the largest spotlight.
If push comes to shove, freshman Kailey Regester would replace Parlich and Ashley Sunderhaus would replace Willadsen. Regester has pitched more and had an excellent season, but it would be an emergency scenario only for Red Mountain because the Lions don’t want to move Sunderhaus away from shortstop in what’s been a re-tooled defense. Advantage: Basha (barely)
Hitting: Parlich has received most of the headlines and she is their best hitter, able to go to all fields with power and can run. But she’s not alone, and the home run threat and deep lineup has separated the Bears from the pack for most of the season. They have a top-notch leadoff hitter in Sierra Rodriguez; Desiree Mejia is a power threat at catcher; and shortstop Darlene Valles - who hit the game-deciding grand slam in last year’s title game - has come through in the clutch a couple more times in this tournament.
Red Mountain has done well enough to get by, especially since their best hitter has been out for the past six weeks because of a knee injury (Lucy Aubrecht). Willadsen has emerged as the team’s best overall hitter, and the Lions are good at “small ball,” moving runners over and bunting. Hitting was a question mark coming into this tournament given their struggles to score in the past two state tournaments (though most of those semifinal losses came against Dallas Escobedo). For both teams, a relative lack of familiarity is to the pitcher’s favor. Advantage: Basha.
Defense: They’ve both been a cut above with the leather, especially Red Mountain, which brought up a couple players from JV earlier in the season when Aubrecht was lost for the season. Caylee Price has been a solid catcher and clutch hitter for the Lions this month, and the Lions infield has been nearly flawless all tournament. ‘D’ has been their prized possession.
Basha is strong up the middle. Mejia has a strong arm behind the plate and Valles might have made a season-saving play at shortstop when she ran into foul ground with her back to the infield and made a running catch near the fence late in Game 2 against St. Mary’s.
For each team, you can count the number of errors this tournament on one hand. Advantage: Red Mountain.
History: Red Mountain defeated Basha, 3-0, during Red Mountain’s season-opening tournament in late February, but that game is so far-removed and meaningless now, it probably wasn’t worth the mention in this space. Too late.
Prediction: Basha 3, Red Mountain 2
