Citizen Staff Writers and Freelance
HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETICS
GEOFF GRAMMER, RAYMOND SUAREZ and RODNEY HAAS
sports@tucsoncitizen.com
Freshman leadoff hitter Forest Chapman continues his stellar season for the Rincon/University High School baseball team.
On Thursday, the right fielder hit two triples and a home run in a 22-2 blowout of visiting Rio Rico, pushing Chapman’s season RBI total to a team-high 27.
“I’m starting three freshmen this season so there is some growing there, but he’s been great this season,” said Rincon coach Britt Echols.
Catcher Taryn Mazur also homered for the Rangers, who are 7-6-1.
Tucson High 7-6 (game suspended in top of 8th inning): Tucson High baseball coach Oscar Romero told his team Thursday he felt it was a sleeping giant.
Heading into the top of the seventh inning trailing host Mountain View 6-2, the giant began to awake.
Tucson High scored four runs to send the game into extra innings and took a 7-6 lead with one out in the top of the eight inning when the game was suspended due to darkness.
“These guys have skill levels that haven’t been shown because they just haven’t got the right mindset,” Romero said. “They showed what they can do in the last couple of innings and that’s what we’ve been looking for, so hopefully this carries on from this point on and we just catch that fire and they see that this is what we’ve been looking for.”
The game will resume April 27 when the teams are scheduled to play a second game at Cherry Field. The game will pick up where it left off – Tucson High will have runners on second and third, with one out in the top of the eighth.
The Mountain Lions jumped to a 4-0 lead after the first inning, thanks largely to an Andrew Faith triple.
Tucson High picked up runs in the second and third but struggled at the plate until the seventh, when its bats came alive.
“This was a great game and both teams battled,” Mountain View coach Anthony Chavez said. “They made some clutch hits there in the seventh inning and it carried over there in the eighth and that’s what makes the game fun. . . . I’m not disappointed at all. This game is not over with at all.”
Kenny Sigman led Tucson High with three hits and a double while pitching seven innings, giving up six runs on five hits. He walked three, hit three and struck out nine.
Faith pitched into the eighth for Mountain View, giving up seven runs on 14 hits. He struck out three and walked two.
Softball
At Marana, Sahuaro poured it on late in a 7-2 win, improving to 12-4 by scoring six of its seven runs from the fifth through the seventh inning.
Marana sophomore Alex Steinmehl accounted for all of Marana’s offense in the losing cause, smacking a pair of solo home runs.
For Sahuaro, Jessica Schneider homered and pitcher Courtney McCoy picked up the win.
Cholla 14, Santa Rita 9: At Cholla, the Chargers offense couldn’t be contained, using a 10-run second inning to pull away for good.
The top three hitters in the Cholla batting order, all juniors, were unstoppable. Alicia Hunter went 2 for 3 with two runs and one RBI; catcher Bianca Haro was 2 for 3 with two runs scored and a pair of RBIs; and Monet Ormsby hit a triple, scored three runs and had two RBIs.
Mountain View 4, Tucson High 0: At Mountain View, sophomore pitcher Sarah Gaalswijk struck out nine to lead the Mountain Lions to the home win.
Desert View 11, Catalina 1 (5 innings): At Desert View, Korina Wilkins hit a three-run home run in the fourth inning and finished with four RBIs to lead the Jaguars.