It took a while for Sabino to get to the University of Arizona campus but the journey became part of the celebration. Sabino beat Payson 4-1 on Monday to win the program’s second 3A championship in a row but it almost never happened thanks to an epic 15-inning semifinal battle with Empire on Friday.

Sabino (20-1) played the Ravens three times this year, coming away with a 2-1 victory, a 3-2 win and the 1-0 semifinal mark over Empire to reach the state championship against Payson (20-4). A loss in any of those two early games could have derailed the Sabercat year with a lower ranking and with a more difficult path to Arizona but the path was already dangerous with Empire (14-5) situated in the same half of the 3A playoff bracket.

Izzy Armijo led off the bottom of the 15th with a single and Riley Nielson doubled in the season-saving and game-winning run against the Ravens. Nielson (17-1) also walked off the field with 26 strikeouts (Empire’s Vanessa Candito had 18) and she added 10 more strikeouts in the win over Payson to giver her 207 on the year.

Nielson scattered six hits against Payson but Bree Hall proved to be the most difficult out with a double and a massive home run in the top of the fourth inning. Halls’ home run cut Sabino’s lead down to 2-1 at that point and the game was very much still in play.

(Bree Hall with the home run for Payson/Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

 

The Sabercats took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second after Gianna Pancost doubled off the fence and then Ashley Stewart reached to put two on with no outs. The Longhorns also have a pretty good arm in the circle with Raci Miranda (20-1) and the senior finished the year with 279 strikeouts with ten coming against Sabino including three in the second inning but Yesenia Romero cashed in on a double to score the two runners in the inning and Romero came up big again in the bottom of the fourth.

Hall had just cut the lead down to 2-1 and Romero singled in Stewart in the bottom half of the fourth after Stewart reached and Rheyana Pina sacrificed her to second base. The Sabercats added another run in the sixth inning on a Pancost double followed by a Stewart RBI.

Payson returned to the state final after taking second place three years in a row from 2014 to 2016 with current head coach Curtis Johnson collecting three runner up finishes for the Longhorns.

First-year Sabino head coach Kyle Howell is also the school’s athletic director.

Payson (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

Raci Miranda is 24th in country with 279 strikeouts and tops in Arizona (ANdy Morales/AZPreps365)