Henry Greenstein is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Marcos de Niza High School for AZPreps365.com

Seton Catholic spent much of Friday night’s game in Tempe in full control. With sophomore Charles Heil on the mound, the Sentinels allowed three runs in six innings, with the only blemish a home run by Marcos de Niza’s Alex Denham in the third inning.

But when the Sentinels went to their bullpen late, the Padres’ bats woke up. Antonio Hernandez hit a two-run home run off Tommy Steinkamp in the seventh inning, then drew a walk-off walk against Ethan Chavez in the eighth, as the Padres came back to beat the Sentinels 7-6.

The Padres avenged a 10-5 defeat against the Sentinels in Chandler earlier in the week.

“After a fatal loss on Tuesday,” Denham said, “it was nice just to come back as a team, beat a rival, end the week on a good note.”

Dallas Vacaneri, who allowed one run in 2 1/3 innings after beginning the game at shortstop, was the winning pitcher for Marcos (5-3). Chavez took the loss for Seton Catholic (4-6).

After a couple of shutout innings from starters Heil and Zachery Paiz, the Padres took the lead in the bottom of the third. On consecutive at-bats, second baseman Noah Gutierrez and left fielder Hernandez hit hard grounders that bounced over the glove of Seton Catholic’s third baseman. Then Denham brought them home with a three-run shot to left field.

Seton Catholic struck back in the next two innings, with a two-run double from catcher Jacob Brown, who finished 3-for-5, and a six-hit fifth frame that yielded three more runs off Paiz, giving the Sentinels a 5-3 lead. Sophomore second baseman David Ossanna was another standout hitter for the Sentinels, reaching base in his first four plate appearances.

Heil settled down after Denham’s home run, allowing just two hits — both singles — in the next three innings. Then the Sentinels added a run on a passed ball to make it 6-3. 

But when Heil allowed a walk in the bottom of the seventh, Seton Catholic coach Brian Stephenson went to his bullpen. Against two Sentinels relievers, Hernandez hit a two-run home run, Denham legged out an infield single, Paiz walked and finally senior Rafael Armenta scored Denham with an RBI single to tie the game.

“We battled, we did our jobs,” coach Matt Courtney said. “Our whole thing is ‘pass the baton,’ and that’s what we did.”

The Padres left Paiz and Armenta on base in the seventh, but quickly found another opportunity in extra innings when Gage Olson and Daniel Rodriguez walked to start the bottom of the eighth. After Gutierrez reached base on a bunt, it was up to Hernandez again to bring it home for the Padres with the bases loaded, nobody out and any number of possible ways to end the game.

He drew the third walk of the inning, and the Padres won 7-6. 

Despite the loss, Heil remained optimistic about the Sentinels’ upcoming schedule.

“There’s been a couple games this season where we kind of let things go,” Heil said, “but I think if we keep on pushing… we will be able to finish these games and put W’s on the scoreboard.”

Seton Catholic will try to bounce back on the road against non-section foe Youngker (1-6) at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Marcos will travel to Buckeye (7-3) for a non-section game at 4:30 p.m. Monday.