Cassie Campise is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover McClintock High School for AZPreps365.com

TEMPE Ariz.-- The McClintock Chargers fought until the end in a close game against Marcos De Niza that concluded in a 1-0 loss. 

In the Tomas Pinon / Matt Huffman Tournament last weekend,  head coach Larry Patterson said the biggest challenge they faced was on the mound, but that wasn't the case Tuesday. Senior pitcher Antonio Del Rio thrived on the mound with support from a strong defense. 

Del Rio threw a complete game, giving up one run on five hits, one walk and one hit batter against the Padres on Tuesday afternoon.

“He pitched a magnificent game,” Patterson said.  

Del Rio executed three types of pitches during the game: a breaking ball, a changeup and a fastball. He was able to keep Marcos De Niza’s hitters off balance for the majority of the game. 

“He just had a great rhythm and really good energy today,” assistant coach Harold Bull said. “He was our catalyst.” 

Bull said that he also gave them an opportunity to win the game. 

Before the game, Del Rio was filled with excitement. He was ready to go out and compete in one of the biggest rivalry games of the year against some of his friends who he has played with before. He thought overall he played well, but he gave credit to the defense on grounders, fly balls, and routine plays.

When asked about the biggest difference in this game, Del Rio said, “I feel like we were more calm and just relaxed to get the ball and go easy as we flow.”

It was close throughoute, but there was one opportunity in the seventh inning where the Chargers could have capitalized. 

“That last inning we hit the ball hard and had two guys on base. We had the chance to win the game and there isn’t a whole lot you can ask for,” Bull said. 

Going forward, Patterson says the team “needs to find the holes and unfortunately right now they are not finding any.” 

The Chargers had two base hits, one walk, and were hit by a pitch three times. Their main struggle is getting men on base and being able to find home plate.

“What we need is to get a key base hit and that’s it,” Bull said.

Bull said, looking back on last weekend, they did not play as well as they wanted to. On Monday, they devoted practice to defense, and they saw in this game it is starting to pay off. 

Despite the loss, McClintock stayed positive after the game. 

“It’s just not our turn yet, but it will be,” Bull said. 

The Chargers (0-5) play their first conference game against Paradise Valley (1-1) on the road Thursday at 3:45 p.m and host Paradise Valley at home on Friday at 3:45 p.m.