TEMPE — Oliver Sierra was 2 for 3 with two walks and two RBIs, Jude House pitched three scoreless innings in relief and No. 7-seeded Phoenix Christian earned a 7-6 win over Tombstone to claim the 2A championship on Saturday afternoon.

It is the sixth championship in program history for the Cougars (25-4, 9-2 2A Central), and third in the last nine years after winning back-to-back titles in 2017 and 2018. They had hoisted the trophy in 1968, 1998 and 2003 prior to that.

Sierra, who led off the game and scored, hit a hard single up the middle to give Phoenix Christian a 4-3 lead in the third inning.

The 5-foot-7 junior said it felt “amazing” to win the title and that all their hard work has “paid off,” but added that he and his teammates didn’t really see this coming.

“At the beginning of the year, we got cocky, and then we were humbled right away. We were down, but in first round of playoffs we played well as a team and got our confidence back up,” Sierra said.

Longtime skipper Mark Band backed up his shortstop’s thoughts, stating that this team is “resilient.”

“This team was not playing well at the end of the year. I honestly thought we’d be one and done, but we had two weeks to practice, and the guys pulled it together,” Band said.

Sierra worked a walk with the bases loaded in the top of the fourth inning to give his club a 7-5 lead, which were all the runs they would need thanks to a stellar relief outing by Jude House.

The sophomore entered in the fifth inning and was lights out, throwing three scoreless frames to take his team to the title.

“I knew I had to come in and throw strikes. I knew my defense had my back, and at the end of the day I came in and got it done, and let my defense work,” House said.

The righty reportedly had a UCL tear and didn’t pitch at all during the 2025 season until the 2A state semifinals on Friday in a 10-2 win over No. 14-seeded Veritas Prep.

“And here he comes to close out the game for us,” Band said with a big smile.

House said he didn’t let the early errors by his team affect him on the mound, especially since the two clubs combined for six total errors in the game.

“There were some key catches from my outfielders, and my catcher behind the plate did a great job so I had zero passed balls. I kept the ball in the zone, and we came out on top,” House said.

Collectively as a team, the Cougars earned eight walks and were on base all day, but didn’t scratch across a run after the fourth inning.

For Tombstone (20-7-1, 9-3 2A South), DJ Elias was 3 for 4 with two runs scored, while Erik Koehler was 2 for 3 with a walk and two runs scored.

Brian M. Bergner Jr. has covered professional, collegiate and high school sports for more than 20 years. Follow him on X at @AzPreps365Brian or on Facebook at @Five2MediaWorks. Have a story idea? Email Brian at bbergner@azpreps365.com.