Cienega High School baseball coach Todd Welch is feeling the pressure of the Class 4A Kino Region race.
Welch can breathe somewhat easier after the Bobcats defeated Sahuaro 5-2 Tuesday to remain undefeated in the region.
Cienega took sole possession of first place after Flowing Wells defeated Nogales 4-3 Tuesday.
Cienega is 3-0 in the region; Nogales and Flowing Wells are 2-1.
“We have Nogales Thursday and Flowing Wells Friday,” Welch said. “Our region is tough. We’ve got three or four teams in the top 12 in the state. That is tough to compete with.”
Cienega received a stellar performance from Ricky Casier, who went 5 1/2 innings. He yielded two runs in the first inning before slamming the door on Sahuaro.
“After the first inning, I got more confidence in myself and decided to go after a few guys,” Casier said.
“This was definitely the best game I’ve had. I got off to a rocky start giving up the two runs. Hopefully, this will carry over.”
Casier allowed one hit after yielding two in the first.
Cienega rallied to take the lead with a run in the second and two in the third. Bobby Babers singled in a run in the second; a throwing error led to the two runs in the third.
In the seventh, a balk and a throwing error led to two more Cienega runs.
“Coming into this (game), I figured that the one who made the least mistakes would probably end up on top,” Welch said.