How Nogales and Notre Dame kept baseball seasons alive
Nogales' resiliency was on full display Monday night when it was trailing by a run in the bottom of the eighth inning at Tempe Diablo Stadium.
Ralphie Felix and David Zazueta saved the Apaches' season with Felix driving in the tying run and Zazueta's double winning it 7-6 the elimination in walk-off fashion in the 5A double-elimination state baseball tournament.
Nogales (18-10) gets another shot at No. 2 Peoria Sunrise Mountain on Wednesday at 4 p.m. at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa. It will need to beat unbeaten Sunrise Mountain twice to get to the May 14 state championship game at Diablo.
Nogales' only loss in the tournament came last Thursday against Sunrise Mountain 8-1.
"We are glad to have another shot at Sunrise and having to beat them twice is no easy task," Nogales coach Oscar Favela said in an email Tuesday morning. "We had to take care of business last night to allow us the opportunity and that's all we were trying to do.
"We will show up and play hard and take it one game at a time."
Campo Verde, which saw its season end, scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning to tie the game at 6. The Coyotes added another run in the top of the eighth to come three outs away from moving on.
Felix was 3-for-5 with the RBI that tied the game in the bottom of the eighth. Zazueta, on the first pitch, hit his second double of the game to score the winning run.
"The right fielder almost made an unbelievable catch," Favela said. "It looked like the ball clipped the top of his glove, barely getting over. Felix hustled around from first base to score the winning run."
Carlos Peralta was 2-for-3 at the plate and was the winning pitcher after throwing the last 2 2/3 innings. Denzel Montijo started and pitched 5 1/3 innings, giving up eight hits and three earned runs.
Troy Breazeale and freshman Kyle Wisniewski each drove in two runs for Campo Verde.
Chase Wagner pitches Notre Dame Prep to victory
In the top bracket of the 5A tournament, Scottsdale Notre Dame Prep kept its season alive with an 8-0 win over Phoenix Mountain Pointe.
Chase Wagner pitched the full seven innings, giving up four hits, striking out nine and walking none. He threw 101 pitches.
Notre Dame gets a rematch with No. 1 Queen Creek Casteel on Wednesday night at 6:30 at Hohokam Stadium. The Saints will have to beat Casteel twice to reach the state final. Last week, Casteel beat them 6-1.
Matthew Gahan had a double and two RBIs and Isaac Llenas drove in two runs with a hit. T.J. Stottlemyer and Aaron Kniffin had RBI hits.
To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert atrichard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter:@azc_obert
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Nogales, Notre Dame baseball stay alive in 5A tournament
