Softball: CDO vs. Sunrise Mountain
Monday, May 14th, 2012SOFTBALL: DIVISION II
Championship Game: Monday, May 14
2 Canyon del Oro vs. 1 Sunrise Mountain, ASU: 5:30 pm
Streamed live on AIA365.com
Sunrise Mountain (33-1) is coached by former University of Arizona catcher Jody Pruitt. That is probably the only thing most people from Southern Arizona know about the Mustangs.
Well, Pruitt coached Sunrise Mountain to a championship game appearance in 2004 where she lost to Deer Valley 2-1. Nick Rizer took the team over and he won two titles.
He beat Deer Valley 1-0 in 2009 and he beat Ironwood Ridge 10-0 in 2008. Cienega beat Sunrise Mountain with Rizer at the helm in 2010, 7-1.
Pruitt started the program at Sunrise Mountain in 1997 and stayed until 2005. She is part of the high school coaching universe created by Mike Candrea that includes Jill Malina at Mountain View, Laura Espinoza-Watson at Empire and Danielle Rodriguez at Tucson High.
Pruitt returned this spring and she inherited a talented team including ace pitcher Taylor Nowlin. Nowlin held Ironwood Ridge to four hits and a walk on the strength of 10 strike outs to earn a spot in the title game.
But, just as Sunrise Mountain claims to have never seen a good pitcher like Makayla McAdams of Ironwood Ridge (of which I agree), they have never seen a player like Kayla Bonstrom.
Bonstrom is the ace for Canyon del Oro (32-5) and she isn’t even a pitcher by trade. Bonstrom earned her All-American status as an outfielder and that’s where she will be playing for Stanford next year.
Bonstrom has six post season home runs and a couple of doubles. Oh, and she has earned seven intentional walks. But those free bases will decrease dramatically with Sammi Noland (Nebraska) hitting behind her.
The new configuration resulted in back-to-back three-run home runs for CDO over Ironwood Ridge on Friday night in their 11-8 comeback victory.
You would think Bonstrom and Noland hit in the three and four spot right? Wrong. They have been hitting in the leadoff positions for the Dorados.
Pruitt won two titles playing with Arizona and CDO’s new coach, Stephanie Nicholson, won two as a player for Flowing Wells. Nicholson, like Pruitt, inherited a talented crew of players from the top to bottom.
As of May 7, Sunrise Mountain is ranked 10th by ESPN-HS and Ironwood Ridge is ranked 25th. CDO was ranked 44th but they dropped out of the list.
Those rankings are sure to change when the final lists come out this week or next. Hopefully, everything will be decided on the field.














