Salpointe. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

 

The Panthers ended the regular season ranked No. 1 in the 4A Conference with a 29-4 record, including 21 straight wins, to set up a championship battle Saturday night with one of the top dynasties in Arizona softball history in Salpointe. The Lancers came in ranked No. 2 behind Coconino but the program was riding a record six straight championships to ASU's Farrington Stadium with the earned swagger of a heavy weight champion. The only way to beat a champion is to be one yourself and that’s what the Panthers did thanks to a walk-off RBI from junior Katelynn Yazzie.

Yazzie connected on a bases-load hit to the outfield to score senior Destiny Villas and the Panthers poured out from their dugout to celebrate a 2-1 victory in the bottom of the eighth inning and the celebration was long and loud because it was the first championship in program history. Not only did the Panthers break a streak of six straight championships by the Lancers, teams from Southern Arizona owned this level of competition every year since 2014 and Coconino is now only the third team since 2005 to win it outside of the Tucson area.

“They really played a great game,” Salpointe (24-7-1) head coach Tricia Sztan said on the loss. “Their pitcher Kaitlyn (Tso) had a great game. It was wonderful to see two teams from Flagstaff and Tucson face off for the 4A state championship, because it just means that the state of Arizona has great softball everywhere. So that's really, really exciting to see.”

Tso (28-1) ends her career with 87 victories and the Cal State Northridge commit ends with an incredible 1,100 strikeouts including 11 against the Lancers. Still, as impressive as Tso was in the final, Salpointe junior Macee Jackson (10-6) held the Panthers with seven strikeouts. Jackson, a Texas State commit, and Tso weathered the storm until the Lancers finally broke through in the top of the eighth on a run to take a 1-0 lead. Sarah Camp started the team off with a double and then Leylani Cuesta reached on an infield hit to put two on. Arizona commit Molli Daley put down a squeeze bunt to score Soli Ramos, who was running for Camp. The Panthers picked up another out on the play at third base and then Tso collected her 11th strikeout to end any further damage.

Down 1-0, Danica Kern got the Panthers going with a hit past third base and then Sophie Monsman sacrificed Kern to second base. Destiny Villas reached on a bunt to put two on and then Tso was intentionally walked to set up a potential force out at home. Instead, Aryanna Dominguez reached on a hit-by-pitch to tie the game up at 1-1 and then Yazzie ended the game with her walk-off RBI, scoring Villas.

“This team fought every single day at practice,” Sztan added. “They fought at every game. They fought tonight. They never, never stopped. And congratulations to Coconino.”

Camp had two doubles for Salpointe and Kern went 2-4 for Coconino.

(Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

 

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