No. 2 Salpointe beat No. 10 Walden Grove 8-1 Tuesday night to advance to the third round of the 4A state playoffs to be played Saturday morning at 10 a.m. The Lancers are set to host the third round game but their opponent has not been decided due to the postponement of the contest between No. 6 Flagstaff and No. 14 Poston Butte due to weather conditions in the Flagstaff area. That game will be played Wednesday instead at 3:30 p.m. at O’Connor High School in Northern Phoenix.

Walden Grove (14-12) moves over to the elimination bracket but the Red Wolves are also without an opponent for that game scheduled for Thursday. The weather also postponed the game between No. 9 Eastmark at No. 1 Coconino. That game will also be played on Wednesday but at Boulder Creek High School located in Anthem.

Salpointe (22-6-1) took a 5-1 lead in bottom of the first against Walden Grove and added two more in the second and another in the third for the 8-1 victory. Isabel Otero picked up a double with four RBI and Leylani Cuesta went 2-3 with a double. Audri Elias (10-1) picked up seven strikeouts for Salpointe and Macee Jackson (9-5) added two more in relief.

For Walden Grove, Isabel Higuera and Ariah Ramirez picked up hits and Oliviah Valdez had an RBI. Maya Vivas (3-2) had five strikeouts and Valdez (1-3) added two more from the circle.

Maya Vivas. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

 

In 5A action, No. 3 Canyon del Oro (30-3) held on to beat No. 6 AZ College Prep 2-1 at home to advance to the third round to be play at No. 2 Canyon View (26-4) Saturday morning at 10 a.m. AZ College Prep (23-8) will host No. 10 Cienega (24-8) Thursday in an elimination game.

Sammy Hudgens doubled to lead off the bottom of the first inning, Molly Herman moved her to third base and then Taya Kelly hit a sacrifice fly to score Hudgens. That 1-0 lead held up until the Dorados scored off of a single from Herman and a wild pitch that moved her courtesy runner, Briseis Ramirez, to second base. Ramirez advanced to third base on an error and she scored on the same error to make it 2-0.

The Knights stranded Taylor Estrella at third base with one out in the top of the sixth and two runners in scoring position in the top of the seventh after cutting the lead down to 2-1 on an RBI from Estrella.

Hudgens and Adriana Machado doubled for the Dorados. Amelia Streuber (18-2) collected nine strikeouts on the win, including a strikeout to end the game with runners at second and third in the seventh. Liliana Gagnon (13-3) had four strikeouts in the loss. Estrella went 2-4 with a RBI.