Photo: Miki Morgan stretches out for a fly ball
Varsity Softball
The Prescott Badgers rallied from a two run deficit to win 3-2 over the Deer Valley Skyhawks at Prescott High School.
It was a pitching battle as the teams were scoreless through three innings. Deer Valley took a 1-0 lead on a pair of singles and an error. The Skyhawks would add a run in the top of the sixth when Kyla Decker slammed a ball over the right center field fence.
Photo: Gracie Pereira scores the winning run
Trailing 2-0, the Badgers came up three of the games four hits by belting three consecutive doubles. RJ Parra started it off, then Kennedy Carr doubled in Parra and it was 2-1. Gracie Pereira doubled down the third baseline scoring Carr to tie the game. With Pereira at third and one out, Miki Morgan hit a fly ball down the right field line. Pereira scampered home beating the throw easily as Prescott now led 3-2.
RJ Parra went the distance, earning the win while giving up just one earned run on five hits, while striking out ten.
Morgan said, ”I was really nervous at first, but going through my mind I just kept thinking, do your job, do your job, and that worked. This win means a lot. We have been struggling a little bit with our hitting, and for us to come up with a string of hits was great.”
Photo: Kennedy Carr connects on her sixth inning RBI double
Carr said, “I didn’t start off to great today, so I came up and just saw it coming in and drove it. This was a good game for us as we get ready for our region games. I think the close ones help you deal with some pressures that you don’t experience in lopsided games.”
Badger coach Randall Bryan said this about another close tight game, “These girls are going to kill, but in a good way. They are a scrappy bunch and sometimes when we are down we find ways to get back up. We didn’t have a ton of good at bats but I kept telling them it just takes one to get us going. We did that finally in the sixth inning and we played good defense today, and that was the difference.”
The Badgers improve to (7-3), while Deer Valley falls to (5-5). Prescott will play at the Wrangler Tournament in Wickenburg on March 7-8, before returning home on March 19 to face Coconino at 4pm.
PRESCOTT BADGERS 3, DEER VALLEY SKYHAWKS 2
Innings- 123 456 7 – R H E
Deer Valley 000 101 0 – 2 5 1
Prescott 000 003 x – 3 4 1
WP:Parra
LP:Leyba
SCOREBOARD
Prescott 3, Deer Valley 2
Camp Verde 14, Northland Prep 0
Coconino 32, Peoria 0
Flagstaff 13, Agua Fria 2
Mingus 12, Cactus 1
Saguaro 10, Mohave 6
Varsity Baseball
The Prescott Badgers found themselves in a quick hole that they couldn’t quite climb out of in a 12-7 loss to the Deer Valley Skyhawks.
Deer Valley jumped on top in the first with a pair of runs. Thye added three more in the third to lead 5-0 before the Badgers were able to get on the board.
Trailing 12-4, Prescott found opportunity to get back into the game. Cooper Magnett singled, Josh Adler walked and Andrew Lyon was hit on a 0-2 pitch to load the bases. Brendan Costes and Nathaniel Torres both walked to make the score 12-6. Ryan Elliot came through with a sacrifice fly to score a sliding Lyon and it was 12-7 with one out. The Badgers picked up another walk to load the bases again, but were unable to get the clutch hit they needed.
Photo: Andrew Lyon slides home safely in the sixth inning
After pitcher Josh Adler held Deer Valley scoreless in the top if the seventh, the Badgers had yet another chance to make some noise. Magnett came up with an infield single. Adler singled to right. The bases were loaded again when Lyon was hit by a pitch for the second consecutive inning. The chance was there and gone in an instant when Costes hit a line drive but right at the first baseman who doubled off Lyon. It was a case of bad luck for the Badgers, and good luck for the Skyhawks. The next batter struck out and that was all she wrote.
Prescott Coach Barry Tolli said, “I felt we came out a little flat. Hats off to them they came out prepared and their pitcher had good command early. We did not come out ready to play and our pitchers struggled. I was happy though we kept playing and had some chances to get back in it, but they were able to get the big outs when they needed them most. When you get behind early like we did, that is a big hole to crawl out of against a good fundamentality sound baseball team. Now we look forward to some warmer weather, hopefully not to windy over there and then we have a big game at home next week with Saguaro.”
Deer Valley improves to (7-1) while the Badgers drop to (3-2). Prescott will hit the road for the Route 66 Tournament at River valley High School on Thursday and Friday before coming home to face Saguaro on Monday at 3pm.
DEER VALLEY SKYHAWKS 12, PRESCOTT BADGERS 7
Innings- 123 456 7 – R H E
Deer Valley 203 421 0 – 12 12 1
Prescott 002 023 0 – 7 7 3
WP:Theall
LP:Sanderford
SCOREBOARD
Deer valley 12, Prescott 7
Camp Verde 13, Northland Prep 3
Coconino 14, Peoria 4
Flagstaff 15, Agua Fria 3
Mingus 16, Cactus 11
Saguaro 1, Mohave 0
Trinity Christian 19, Imagine Prep Coolidge 0
