Sabino improved to 9-1 overall thanks to a 7-2 win at Pusch Ridge Tuesday night. The win also gave the Sabercats the upper hand in the 3A South Region and a tighter grip on the early power-point rankings.

The Sabercats started the day ranked No. 3 in the 3A Conference but No. 1 Snowflake lost to No. 17 Payson 9-8 in extra innings so the Sabercats might move up a little after win over No. 20 Pusch Ridge come Wednesday afternoon. Officially, Sabino is 7-0 in games that count with the one loss coming against 5A Conference power Mountain View Marana during the Tucson High Badger Tournament.

“I’m a little glad we lost that game,” explained senior pitcher Danielle Kirchhofer. “We got it out of the way and it helped us focus on our schedule.”

The 2-0 loss to Mountain View is more than offset by big wins over upper-division opponents Sahuaro, Canyon del Oro, Tucson and Sunnyside.

Pusch Ridge is now 5-3 in power-ranking games and 0-1 in the 3A South Region and the future looks bright with freshman pitcher Kyrie Denny taking the circle for the Lions. Denny collected five strikeouts against Sabino while holding the Sabercats close through five innings.

The Sabercats plated two runs in the top of the third inning thanks to RBIs from Riley Carley and Ashely Stewart but the Lions got one back in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI from Denny that scored Baie Ensio. The Sabercats added an unearned run in the fifth to take a 3-1 lead but the team put up three more in the sixth with Cassandra Castaneda leading the way with a 2-RBI double.

Denny and Victoria Graham hit back-to-back doubles to cut the lead down to 6-2 but Pusch Ridge added another unearned run in the seventh for the 7-2 final.

“I came in with plenty of experience from my 18U club team with D-I talent so the transition to starting as a freshman was easier for me,” Denny said. “As a leader, it’s my job to help us focus so we can go where we want to go.”

Denny picked up more than playing experience along the way. Her grandfather, John Denny, won the Cy Young award pitching for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1983, her father, John Denny, Jr. played football and baseball for the University of Arizona and her mother, Lore (Momaday) Denny played basketball at Catalina Foothills alongside Julie Brase (Hairgrove).

Denny also went 3-for-3 at the plate with a double and an RBI.

Kirchhofer (6-0) collected 10 strikeouts in the win, giving the standout 52 on the year in only 35 innings of work.

“We have five seniors and I think it helps out our chemistry because the older girls have become teachers,” Kirchhofer added. “We are working with the younger girls on the team and that has helped up come together.”

Sydney Gray went 2-4 for Sabino with three stolen bases, Castaneda had two doubles and two RBI, Carley went 2-3 with an RBI, Kinzee Anderson added a single as did Yesenia Romero.

Sabino hosts No. 15 Sahuarita (5-2) on Thursday and Pusch Ridge host No. 40 Catalina (0-8) on the same night. Both matchups are region games.