Sahuaro Cougars Roster

Sahuaro run-ruled Mountain View 13-3 in six innings and improved to 10-0 in power-point play, but that was not what interim coach Don Bacon was most satisfied with.

Instead it was the fact that his Cougars (20-1) were able to bounce back from being down in the first inning on their home field Tuesday.

"The thing that most impressed me was that we were down early, and the girls didn't panic," Bacon said. "They came back and persevered and blew them out of the water."

In the top of the first inning, sophomore pitcher Brooklyn Beardshear gave up hits to the first four Mountain View batters and allowed two runs.

In the bottom of the first, Betsey Erickson walked, and Morgan McKeever and Olivia Harden each singled to load the bases.

Beardshear drove in Erickson and McKeever to tie the game. Two batters later, Harden scored the go-ahead run on a bases-loaded walk, and Beardshear scored on a passed ball to put her team up 4-2.

The Cougars allowed only one more run and scored nine more. Beardshear (11-0) retired the final 10 Mountain View batters.

In the bottom of the sixth, McKeever hit a walk-off sacrifice fly to left field to score Amy Bergeson with the winning run.

Sahuaro is No. 1 in the 4A-I state power rankings, but Bacon doesn't want to pay too much attention to it.

"We like where we are with the power points, but we don't dwell on it because we've still got to play every game," he added.

Mountain View (10-6) is ranked sixth in the 5A-II poll.

The Cougars open 4A Kino Region play at Nogales on Thursday.

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Amanda Nicholas. The freshman catcher has hit 8 home runs this year for Sahuaro.

Salpointe is ranked 4th thanks to their huge victory at Xavier on Wednesday. Tucson is 6th with Buena hanging in at 13th. The Badgers have actually played more games and are halfway through their season.

Sunnyside is 4th with the meat of their schedule ahead of them. Mountain View has only one power point loss and are currently ranked 8th, one spot ahead of Ironwood Ridge at 9th.

Sahuaro is the top ranked team with huge victories over Tucson, CDO and Sabino. They have one loss (to CDO in the Dorado Classic) and have two games left against both Cienega and Marana with another big game scheduled against Mountain View. They will need to win out to stay ahead of Shadow Mountain – a team that has the easiest schedule in the state.

The Cougars are doing it without a head coach and via the long ball: Amanda Nicholas has 8, Brooklyn Beardshear has 5, Olivia Harden has 5 and Betsy Erickson has 4 to lead the team.

Sabino is ranked 2nd and Flowing Wells finds themselves ranked 4th. Desert View is 5th and CDO somehow ranked 6th with only one loss.

Marana is 7th, Cienega is 9th and Pueblo is 13th. Nogales is 16th with Foothills one spot out at 17th.

SOFTBALL: Erickson homers as Sahuaro tops rival Sabino 7-5

Sahuaro has one blemish on their record, a 10-5 loss to Canyon del Oro in the championship game of the Dorado Classic on February 26. Even in the loss, Betsy Erickson and Savannah Fuller went deep for the Cougars in what has been a common occurrence for the team.

The Cougars went on to win the Boulder Creek Sun Blast Tournament in early March where they defeated rival Sabino 12-2 in bracket play. Homeruns? Fuller hit another and Amanda Nicholas hit two.

Invitationals serve many purposes with the most important ones being playing time and game experience. There is also the aspect of pride and competition. The other bonus (or negative depending on the result) is that the AIA does not recognize the games played in an invitational towards power points or games played.

Sahuaro left the Dorado classic with a loss but it did not hurt their playoff position – it only made them stronger for their rematch against the Dorados on March 18. That is the danger of beating or even playing against a conference opponent in a preseason tournament.

Sahuaro went on to win that game 2-1 in dramatic fashion. This time, the game counted.

The Cougars welcome Betsy Erickson after her home run. Erickson is running for School President and the majority of the cars in the parking lot had "Vote for Betsy" painted on their windows.

Likewise, Sabino’s early loss to Sahuaro, while damaging to school pride, offered them a chance to grow from a setting that ultimately did not hurt them. They were actually ranked ahead of Sahuaro in power points entering their game against Sahuaro on Tuesday.

In fact, the top six 4A-I teams are all from Southern Arizona: Sabino, Sahuaro, CDO, Flowing Wells, Marana and Desert View with Cienega ranked 8th.

But, when it was all over, Sahuaro will take over the top spot thanks to their 7-5 victory over the Sabercats.

Brooklyn Beardshear (9-0) took the circle for the Cougars and, despite a stuffy nose, pitched five plus innings. She gave up a two-out hit to Taylor Riesgo in the first inning but didn’t get into much trouble until she allowed a leadoff double to Shawna Comeaux in the second inning.

Comeaux stole third base and then Kayley Willingham flew out to shallow right field. Comeaux was caught in a rundown on the play between home and third after Taylor Lawson made an excellent throw home from right field to catcher Ricca Parisella. The perfect throw home would play a role in what would happen later in the game.

Meanwhile, Sahuaro scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning and five more in the bottom of the second.

Erickson walked and Morgan McKeever singled with one out in the first inning. Olivia Harden sent an 0-2 pitch to the right field gap to score both runners on her double. Harden took third base on the throw home and was stranded there.

Fuller hit a double to right field with one out in the third inning and then Lawson was walked by Alyssa Fletcher. Amy Bergeson put down a sacrifice bunt but the ball was thrown to right field on the play, allowing Fuller and Lawson to score on the error.

Those two runs would turn into earned runs after Erickson came up and blasted a shot over the left field wall. McKeever then hit a shot past a diving Shelby Mendoza at second base. Mendoza was able to knock the ball down but she injured her shoulder and hand on the play. The injury would also have implications later in the game.

“I was upset I didn’t get to that ball in the second inning,” explained Erickson. “She gave me a perfect inside pitch and I turned on it.”

Harden moved McKeever over on a groundout and then Nicholas scored her on an RBI single to left field.

Sabino picked up two runs in the top half on the third as Beardshear started to show some control issues and she walked Mendoza and MJ Riesgo to start things off and then gave up a double to Kelsey Jenkins to score Mendoza.

Fletcher walked and the bases were loaded with no outs. Beardshear got a ground ball that McKeever fired home from her short stop position for the first out but Aubre Carpenter scored Jenkins on a fielder’s choice. Sahuaro flew out to end the threat.

Sahuaro threatened again in the bottom of the third after Parisella started things off with a single but Fuller hit into a fielder’s choice to get the out at second base for the first out.

Lawson picked up another single but Fletcher induced two weak groundouts to end the threat.

Jenkins walked to start off the 5th inning and the Fletcher moved her over. Taylor Riesgo singled to right field and then Carpenter scored Jenkins on another fielder’s choice to get Taylor Riesgo out at second base. Comeaux came up and hit a chopper up the middle but McKeever was able to reach it and simultaneously stepped on second base for the third out. 7-3 Sahuaro.

Fletcher held Sahuaro’s last 11 batters in check but Beardshear was replaced by Brooklyn Misenhimer after she issued a leadoff walk to Willingham to start the 6th inning.

Krystina Koepnick was walked and Sabino looked to be back in business with two on but Misenhimer struck out the next batter. Mendoza was due up in that position but the pain caused by her injury became too much for her to bat and move runners over. It proved to be a big blow as Shannon Shields came in and hit a single to left field to load the bases.

Jenkins hit a fly ball to left field but Sabino was much more cautious on their tag-ups after what happened in the early innings and did not attempt to score on the play. It was a good thing as Erickson’s throw home after her catch was on the mark and quick.

The Sabercats would get another chance in the 7th after Taylor Riesgo walked and Carpenter doubled to start things off.

Another fly ball prevented a run but Willingham scored Taylor Riesgo on a groundout. Koepnick brought in Carpenter on a single and the game was suddenly 7-5 Sahuaro with the tying run at the plate but Misenhimer got the final out to end the game with a save.

McKeever was 2-3 in the game and has found herself one of the three leaders on the team that has no seniors.

“There is no drama on this team,” said McKeever. “We are all young and we mesh – we are good friends.”

It is amazing what the girls have accomplished this year, playing under those conditions.

And Sabino found life different after losing Kaity Sitzman. Sitzman moved on to Villanova where she has started 5 games for the Wildcats.

Sabercat coach Jeff Fowler has relied on his junior pitcher Fletcher to carry the team for the most part but has two freshmen waiting their turn.

“Alyssa has done a great job and will get the most of our starts,” explained Fowler. “The thing about this year is that there are no more dominant pitchers. No one is going to get shutout like in the past.”

True, there are no more pitchers like Kenzie Fowler, Alexa Cash, Kaity Sitzman, Carissa Youngblood or Estela Pinon in the circle this year. Sahuarita’s Yvette Alvarez appears to be the top pitcher remaining with Beardshear and a few other ready to step up.

Sabino gets no time to rest because they are on their way to Scottsdale to play Red Mountain in the Desert Mountain Invitational Wednesday at 3 pm.

Sahuaro has already played its allotted two tournaments and will play at Foothills on Thursday.

SAHUARO SOFTBALL NEWS

High school softball: Sahuaro comes from behind

SOFTBALL: Erickson homers as Sahuaro tops rival Sabino 7-5