Christian Muscarello helped the Catalina Foothills High School baseball team end its drought against Canyon del Oro.
Second-seeded Catalina Foothills topped CDO 15-8 in the Class 4A Sonoran Region title game on Tuesday at Cherry Field.
Muscarello had four RBIs on two doubles and a homer for the Falcons, who won the tournament title for the second straight year.
“It was back and forth,” said Muscarello, who gave his team a 2-0 lead with a home run in the first inning. “We were just able to keep hitting the ball.
The Falcons led 9-8 going into the seventh inning before piling on six runs to put the game away.
“We knew we had to score some insurance runs to put it away,” Muscarello said.
Top-seeded CDO made things tough for Foothills in the fifth, greeting relief pitcher Jeff Coelet with three runs to cut the Falcons’ lead to 8-7.
Ryan Retz – who also tripled and later scored in the third – had a walk and scored on Doug Steele’s double to make it 8-5.
Hayden Cota-Robles belted a two-run homer to cut the lead to one, but Coelet settled down after loading the bases and got the last two batters in the inning to strike out, including Griffin Ronstadt, who chased a 3-2 pitch which was out of the strike zone.
“I just wanted to get it in there and keep my team in the game,” Coelet said. “It was a momentum shift. They’ve beaten us a few times this year, but now we’re on a roll going into state.”
Boys tennis
Palo Verde advanced to the semifinals of the 4A Division II team tournament after shutting out No. 6 Cottonwood Mingus 5-0.
The No. 3-seeded Titans were led by state singles champion Carlos Bermudez, who won his No. 1 singles match 6-0, 6-1. He also teamed with Matthew Berger to win 8-4 in doubles.
Palo Verde will face No. 2 Scottsdale Notre Dame at Glendale’s Paseo Racquet Center at 1:30 p.m. Friday.
Girls tennis
Catalina Foothills controlled its matchup at home against No. 10 Prescott.
The No. 2 Falcons closed out their victory in singles with victories coming from Zaina Sufi and Cari Alcombright to win 5-0.
Sufi and teammate Nooria Sufi won 8-0 in doubles.
Foothills will play No. 6 Phoenix Sunnyslope at the Paseo Racquet Center at 2:30 p.m. Friday.
Boys volleyball
Mountain View took an early lead by winning the first two games against Sunnyside, but had to fight back to claim victory and advance in the 5A Southern Region tournament.
The Mountain Lions defeated the Blue Devils in five games 27-25, 25-16, 20-25, 21-25, 15-8, and will play No. 2 Sierra Vista Buena at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Salpointe.
In 4A competition, No. 3 Marana moved on and will play No. 2 Ironwood Ridge in the Sonoran Region tourney at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.
In the Kino Region, No. 4 Cienega will play No. 2 Rincon/University at 6 p.m. Wednesday. In the Gila, No. 3 Amphi will play No. 2 Palo Verde at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.
All the 4A games will be at Palo Verde.