Photo: Travis Gates threw 89 pitches in 6 shutout innings to get his 5th win of the year
Varsity Baseball
The Prescott Badgers advanced to the first round of the Division 4 playoffs with an 8-4 win over the Thunderbird Titans.
Photo: Travis Gates, Coach Hutchens and Matt Hepperle talk strategy while the Thunderbird coach visits his pitcher on the mound. Two pitches later Gates would hit the home run.
Travis Gates closed out his final game at Prescott High School with not only a solid pitching performance, but producing the first runs of the game with a two run homer over the left field fence in the fourth inning. Gates worked his way out of three jams with some help from his infielders on two of them. First there was third baseman Mateo Blair playing a few feet away from the bag with runners at the corners with one out. A line drive was hit right at Blair and he beat the runner back to third for an inning ending double play.
Blair said this about the bang bang play. “I saw it come off the bat and I made an adjustment to catch it and tagged the bag.”
Gates thwarted another threat in the second inning when he struck out the batter with runners at first and second.
Photo: Nick Martin with the tag of the Thunderbird runner who got into a run down with 21 Willie Horn
Two innings later it happened again but Ashton Whitwell fielded a ground ball throwing it to second base as Nick Martin who tagged the bag and fired the ball to first just beating the runner down the line for a second double play.
Soon the goose egg on the Badgers side of the scoreboard would go away in the bottom of the fourth. Matt Hepperle beat out an infield single as the fielder had to wait for the ball to come down from a high hop. Hepperle would end up on third after a throwing error. Gates was patient at the plate and the Thunderbird coach went out to talk to his pitcher, but it did not help the visitors as Gates launched a ball a good ten feet past the left field fence for a 2-0 Badgers lead.
Gates went back out and got the Titans out in the fifth and sixth innings. Meanwhile Prescott tacked on two more runs in the fifth when Hepperle smashed the ball to the right field fence as he slid in with a triple. Gates picked up the RBI grounder ball and ended up at second on a throwing error. Jace Crockett came in to pinch run and scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-0.
The Badgers broke the game open in the sixth when they plated four more runs to go on top 8-0.
The game seemed in essence to be over, but Thunderbird did not go quietly. Willie Horn took over on the mound and the Titans began a slow methodical comeback. After the visitors had scored two runs and with two outs, Horn was relieved by Drew Jolley with the bases loaded. Two more runs scored and still with the bases loaded and tying run up at the plate the Badgers went to the bullpen to bring in Matt Hepperle. The senior lefty got the batter to hit a grounder to Jolley who had moved to play first base. Hepperle ran over to cover the bag for the final out and a big sigh of relief for not only the fans but the Badgers themselves. Nick Martin said, “Yeah it got a little closer than we would have liked it to, but Hep got the final out for us and now we move on.”
Hepperle, who picked up the save, said, “It was a fun game for my last game here. I knew what I had to do and that was to throw strikes and Drew made a good play and I just hustled over there to beat the runner to the bag.”
Photo: Gates crosses home plate after the two run homer
Travis Gates said, “I felt pretty solid out there today and happy to go out like this. I knew my teammates had my back and they came through.” About the big hit, “I saw that 3-1 fastball coming right down the middle of the plate and just jumped on it. I knew it was gone the moment I hit it, but I have to give props to the rest of the team for scoring a bunch more runs and for Hep coming in a high pressure situation to get that final out.”
Coach Hutchens said, “It was not quite the ending we wanted but we got it done. Trav gave us exactly what we wanted and needed today. He works very hard to be the best he can be and he gave it all today. I thought we did a great job as a team of putting the ball in play and we will need to keep doing that against our next opponent. That first round loss last season to Flagstaff last season is something that can eat at you so getting this win helps dull that some. We just need to throw strikes and play solid defense and of course hit the ball.”
The #14 Badgers (18-9) will face #3 ALA-Gilbert North (20-6) on Saturday at 11am. It will be the second time in a week for these teams to meet. The Badgers struggled and managed only 3 hits in a 5-0 home loss. A win in this game would get Prescott into the double elimination round.
PRESCOTT BADGERS 8, THUNDERBIRD TITANS 4
Innings- 123 456 7 – R H E
Thunderbird 000 000 4 – 4 10 4
Prescott 000 314 x – 8 12 2
WP:Gates
LP:Voyce
HR:Gates (2)
The Bradshaw Mountain Bears saw their season come to an end with a 10-5 loss to the Ironwood Ridge Nighthawks in Tucson.
The Nighthawks jumped on top early off of Bears’ starter Breken Herb who went 4.2 innings and allowed just four earned runs. Costly errors accounted for five additional runs.
Trailing 6-0, Bradshaw Mountain scored a run in the third and two in the fourth to make it a 6-3 contest, but the Nighthawks picked up three additional runs to go on top 9-3 after four innings.
The Bears outhit Ironwood Ridge 10-7 but could not make a late inning comeback. Drew Strader, Braydin Golden, and Nitesh PAtel each had a pair of hits with Sammy Villafana coming up with a two RBi single. Dylan Lockwood had the only extra base hit with an RBI double.
Bradshaw Mountain finishes at (12-15) while Ironwood Ridge (21-7) moves onto the first round.
IRONWOOD RIDGE NIGHTHAWKS 10, BRADSHAW MOUNTAIN BEARS 5
Innings- 123 456 7 – R H E
Bradshaw Mountain 001 201 1 – 5 10 2
Ironwood Ridge 420 301 x – 10 7 2
WP:Chop
LP:Herb
DIVISION 4A PLAY-IN PLAYOFF GAMES SCOREBOARD
Prescott 8, Thunderbird 4
Ironwood Ridge 10, Bradshaw Mountain 5
ALA-Queen Creek 13, Mica Mountain 12
Cholla 4, Rio Rico 3
Estrella Foothills 13, Mesquite 3, 6 innings
Flagstaff 4, Deer Valley 1
Paradise Honors 8, St. Mary’s 4
Yuma 4, Arcadia 2
DIVISION 4A PLAYOFFS-First Round, Saturday 11am
#14 Prescott (18-9) at #3 ALA-Gilbert North (20-6)
#16 Paradise Honors (21-5) at #1 Crismon (23-3)
#15 Cholla (12-7) at #2 Salpointe Catholic (19-8)
#13 ALA-Queen Creek (14-13) at #4 Saguaro (19-7)
#12 Yuma (17-8) at #5 Douglas (19-8)
#11 Estrella Foothills (24-5) at #6 Sahuarita (21-5)
#10 Flagstaff (18-7) at #7 Cactus Shadows (17-5)
#9 Ironwood Ridge (21-7) at #8 Walden Grove (19-7)
Varsity Softball
The Prescott Badgers came to an end with a home loss to the Walden Grove Red Wolves 4-1. Located in Sahuarita, south of Tucson, Walden Grove finished fourth in the Kino Region behind Salpointe Catholic (25-9), Mica Mountain (25-4), and Ironwood Ridge at (15-11).
Photo: Kaylin Penarelli pitched in her first playoff game
The Badgers season came to an end as well as being the final game for their coach that led the team for the past 11 seasons.
Photo: Lilly James puts the bat on the ball in the fourth inning
Randall Bryan said, “We played a really good team yesterday from the best region in the state. Our players gave it their best but we could not get to their pitcher who did a great job against us.” It was emotional after the game as the team gathered for one final time on the field. Bryan said, “I told them that I was proud of them and the improvement I saw in them as the season progressed. I also told them that they were the best team that I have coached because they all work together as a team should. All of them are just great kids.”
Someone who takes the time to do the best they can for their players and the team is what many who have never coached do not realize. Bryan said, “There is a lot of time you put into helping your players, not only become better players, but better human beings. Life lessons that I hope will help them for the rest of their lives. It is tough when you have 14 or 15 players and can only play nine at a time. Everyone plays an important role on the teams and I worked at letting them know that.”
The fact that the Badgers started such a young team bodes well for Prescott softball in coming years.
Bryan steps down after replacing Allison Mendibles in 2016. His best season came in that first year when his team went 22-9. After a rough year last season, the Badgers rebounded with a winning record and a playoff game loss ending the season at (16-11), but do not be surprised if you see him out there next year helping out. “There is a good chance that you may see me around helping out here and there.” I am sure the players would be ok with that.
WALDEN GROVE RED WOLVES 4, PRESCOTT BADGERS 1
Innings- 123 456 7 – R H E
Walden Grove 010 010 2 – 4 7 1
Prescott 000 001 0 – 1 2 1
WP:Valdez
LP:Penarelli
The Bradshaw Mountain Bears ended their season with a 7-5 loss at Thunderbird in Phoenix. The Bears finish the year at (8-14). No other information was made available. Three other Grand Canyon Region teams advanced. Coconino, Lee Williams and Mohave joined Flagstaff who received a first round bye.
DIVISION 4A PLAY-IN PLAYOFF GAMES SCOREBOARD
Walden Grove 4, Prescott 1
Thunderbird 7, Bradshaw Mountain 5
Coconino 11, Saguaro 1
Combs 7, Eastmark 6
Crismon 21, Deer Valley 0
Lee Williams 12, Cactus 0
Mohave 6, Douglas 1
Poston Butte 13, Greenway 0
DIVISION 4A PLAYOFFS-First Round, Saturday 11am
#16 Lee Williams (10-13) at #1 Salpointe Catholic (22-4)
#15 Walden Grove (11-13) at #2 Mica Mountain (25-4)
#14 Combs (19-9) at #3 Sahuarita (25-5)
#13 Mohave (17-13) at #4 Paradise Honors (23-3)
#12 Poston Butte (18-9) at #5 Arcadia (22-7)
#11 Thunderbird (18-6) at #6 Cactus Shadows (19-7)
#10 Coconino (20-7) at #7 Ironwood Ridge (15-11)
#9 Crismon (25-6) at #8 Flagstaff (24-6)
