Cholla High School's Nick Ochoa is congratulated by teammate Adrian Cordova after Ochoa scored Tuesday against Cienega. Cienega prevailed 8-1.
Seth Mejias-Brean is seen as the ace of the Cienega High School pitching staff and the go-to man of coach Todd Welch.
Tuesday night, Mejias-Brean lived up to the billing, allowing one run on two hits in the Bobcats’ 8-1 win over Cholla.
“I’m pleased with what I did statswise,” he said. “I still have to work on my other pitches and get them to work for the coming region (games) because it’s going to be a lot tougher.”
Mejias-Brean, one of 10 Cienega seniors, struck out seven while allowing one walk and hit one batter as Cienega improved to 12-7 overall, 1-0 in Class 4A-I Kino Region play.
The Bobcats jumped to a 3-0 lead at the end of the first inning and added a run in the fourth before capitalizing on three Cholla errors in the fifth inning, scoring four runs.
“Having those strikeouts is good for him,” Welch said of Mejias-Brean.
Cholla’s lone run came from Nick Ochoa, who had a double in the game.
Cienega got doubles from Mario Sanchez, Juan Gomez, Andrew Roche and Mejias-Brean.
With its senior-laden team, Cienega has high hopes for a Kino Region title.
“I just expect perfection out of these kids,” Welch said. “A lot of them have been with me for three years and some of them have been with me for four years,
“Because our region is so tough, we have to have our ‘A’ game every night.”
Softball
It was a pitching battle between Cholla’s Monet Ormsby and Cienega’s Alexa Cash on Tuesday at Cienega.
Cienega’s Brittany Keiser scored off an Emily Pohl sacrifice bunt in the sixth inning as the Bobcats won 1-0.
Cash pitched a three-hit shutout and struck out 17.
Girls tennis
The No. 1 doubles team for Desert View came through to secure the win for the Jaguars.
Stephanie Celaya-Serventi and Carla Rodriguez defeated Shannon Porter and Natalia Billas 8-6 to give Desert View the win over Sahuaro 5-4.
For more on high school sports, check out the Grammer School sports blog.