Southern Arizona State Softball Championships

The AIA began conducting softball championships in 1976. It was a sport reserved for both spring and winter presumably so schools could choose to use their baseball fields and not have to construct a softball diamond.

Most of the coaches listed below owe a huge debt of gratitude to former Marana basketball coach Mike Dyer. It was his federal lawsuit against the AIA that forced the organization to move girls basketball from the spring to the winter, making the basketball players (and coaches) available to play softball in the spring.

Sahuaro is tops with eight titles but Canyon del Oro is gaining on them with seven. San Manuel is also sitting at seven championships thanks to the coaching of Sheila Baize.

Baize has five titles to her name and an incredible 185-15 (.925) record.

Billy Lopez led Sahuaro to six championships from 1988-2001. Lopez was inducted into the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame before he won his sixth title.

CHAMPIONSHIP TEAMS

Sahuaro (8)
1984: 5A (Jim Higgins)
1985: 5A (Jim Higgins)
1988: 5A (Billy Lopez)
1989: 4A/5A (Billy Lopez)
1991: 5A (Billy Lopez)
1992: 4A (Billy Lopez)
1993: 4A (Billy Lopez)
2001: 4A (Billy Lopez)

Canyon del Oro (7)
1991: 5A (Kathy McQuown)
2001: 5A (Dee Dinota)
2005: 5A (Kelly Fowler)
2007: 4A-I (Amy Swiderski)
2008: 4A-I (Amy Swiderski)
2009: 4A-I (Amy Swiderski)
2011: 4A-I (Kelly Fowler)

San Manuel (7)
1977: 4A (Sheila Baize)
1979: 4A (Sheila Baize)
1980: 4A (Sheila Baize)
1981: 3A (Sheila Baize)
1982: 3A (Sheila Baize)
1990: 3A (Jeff Rupright)
1994: 3A (Jeff Rupright)

Santa Cruz (5)
1979: 3A (Rosie Starks)
1980: 3A (Rosie Starks)
2000: 3A (Ernie Montijo)
2006: 3A (Andrea Reyes)
2008: 3A (Andrea Reyes)

Flowing Wells (4)
1884: 4A Debbie Cutrer)
1999: 5A (Armando Quiroz)
2000: 5A (Armando Quiroz)
2002: 5A (Armando Quiroz)

Benson (3)
2006: 2A (Shad Housley)
2008: 2A (Shad Housley)
2011: 2A (Manny Ellsworth)

Desert Christian (2)
1998: 1A (Bill Moten)
1999: 1A (Gerald Dawson)

Sabino (2)
1991: 4A (Bill Belt)
2005: 4A (Galen Paton)

Sahuarita (2)
1999: 3A (Chris Fanning)
2011: 4A-II (Chris Fanning)

Salpointe (2)
1993: 5A (Stacy Hill)
1996: 5A (Phil Gruensfelder)

Thatcher (2)
2002: 2A (Rachel Motes)
2003: 2A (Rachel Motes)

Bowie/San Simon (1)
1990: 1A (Mike Peterson)

 

Cienega (1)

2010: 4A-I (Eric Tatham)

Desert View (1)
2000: 4A (Bert Otero)

Palo Verde Christian (Pusch Ridge) (1)
1997: 1A (Tom Armour)

Pueblo (1)
1990: 4A (Lisa Pina)

Rincon (1)
2002: 4A (Russ Proctor)

Santa Rita (1)
1980: 5A (Jan Dunlap)

Sunnyside (1)
2007: 5A-II (Pete Palomarez)

Willcox (1)
2010: 1A (Mike Patterson)

OTHER SPORTS

FOOTBALL: http://tucsoncitizen.com/highschoolsports/2012/01/25/arizona-centennial-football/

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 28th, 2012 at 9:37 am and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.