Dexter Zinman is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Central High School for AZPreps365

PHOENIX - The afternoon seemed to start as all baseball opening days should, regardless of level. There wasn’t a cloud in the blue sky. Excited parents and fans packed the stands. Team alumni had returned to say hi to their old teammates, dancing to music behind the backstop.

The afternoon slowly turned into a slog of a nightmare for the Central High School Bobcats, who lost to the Ironwood Eagles 18-1 in what was both their season and home opener.

Everything went wrong. Everything seemed to be wrong.

Outfielders lost track of fly balls. Infielders failed to communicate with one another and got in each other's way. Pitches were wild and throws were errant, costing runs.

Even the weather seemed off. The relatively competitive first inning, which ended 1-1, was played in oppressive heat, while by the fifth inning, ending in a mercy-rule, the air had just  begun to cool and feel nice.

It was a surprising way to start the year for a Central squad that had  played relatively impressively during preseason. “In the (preseason) tournament we played great,” Central coach Randy Aguiar said. “They competed all weekend.”

Central went 1-2 in their preseason tournament, The Laveen Baseball Classic, defeating Barry Goldwater 5-4 before losing to North and Betty Fairfax 7-6 and 6-5, respectively. All the preseason results ended in walkoffs.

“It was a 180 to be honest,” Aguiar said. “Seems like after the first inning we just did not compete.”

The first inning started off painlessly for Central. Starter Aaron Clegg walked in a run with the bases loaded, but the senior then pitched out of the jam. In the bottom of the inning, Clegg took first base after being hit by a pitch, and later scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Donovan Burnham.

It would be Central's lone run of the game.

“I liked how we competed in the first inning and that’s about it,” Aguiar said of the start.

Offensively, Clegg was Central’s best player. He went two-for-two, finishing the night with a slash line of 1.000/1.000/2.000.

On the mound, however, Clegg struggled. He allowed four runs in two innings and was replaced in the third by Burnham.

“I felt pretty good,” Burnham, a junior, recalled when coming in to pitch. “I mean we got one run on the board, I was feeling pretty confident with myself.”

Like Clegg, Burnham's mound appearance began well. He amassed three strikeouts, but would ultimately allow five runs in two innings. Burnham was replaced in the fifth inning by a third pitcher, junior Michael Harvy, who would be relieved that same, and final inninb by Fabian Martinez...Central's starting catcher. 

“We had different scenarios lined up depending on the outcome of the game," Aguiar said of the selection and timing of pitching changes. "That kind of dictated how we would use our pitching staff accordingly. Game got a little out of hand, so we brought in guys in a different order.”

Donovan Burnham recognized the good elements of his play but also knew his team needed more from him.

“Just got to perform,” Burnham said. “Just play.”

Besides his sacrifice fly accounting for Central's only run, Burnham belted a stand-up triple to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning. He finished one-for-two on the afternoon.

“I definitely have my ups and downs," Burnham said. "Sometimes I have bad days with hitting, sometimes I have bad days with pitching. But I think today was overall a pretty good day for me.”

Central junior relief pitcher Donovan Burnham throws a pitch in the third inning against Ironwood. (Photo by Dexter Zinman/AZPreps365.com)

Burnham noticed a trend in the game that he felt was a continuation from the preseason.

“I think we need to work on communication a lot more,” Burnham said. “I know in the preseason tournament we didn’t have that much communication. We need to work on that a lot more, I could definitely see it in this game. We were not talking as much as we should be.

Aguiar noted similar concerns surrounding communication, but also really wanted to stress the difference between the team that took the field during the preseason tournament and the one on the field today.

“That was not us today,” Aguiar stated. “Too much talent on this team for that to happen.”

On the other side of the field, Ironwood coach Danny Rodriguez, despite his team having scored 18 runs, was lamenting missed opportunities where his batters left men stranded on base and in scoring position.

“Early on we got a lot of runners on, we just couldn’t cash in,” Rodriguez said with a slight wince. “I just thought that we didn’t play up to our potential.”

Eighteen runs doesn’t fully make up for stranded runners. Rodriguez saw a reality where his team cleared the bases in the first and scored 22 runs, if not more.

Ironwood was carried by freshman pitcher Damien Lopez, who pitched all five innings for the Eagles. After allowing one run in the first, Lopez stepped up his game and looked head and shoulders above the pitchers the Bobcats put out against him.

“It helps us big time,” Rodriguez said of Lopez’s pitching. “It’s gonna boost our confidence when he’s on the mound for us now. I think the kids understand that he can pitch a little bit.”

Like Burnham with Central, Lopez is someone with a clear future within the Ironwood program.

“I thought this was a good stepping stone for him moving forward with us,” Rodriguez said. “Overall I think he’s gonna be a plus for us, and I hope the kids can back him up from here on out.  

While one team figures out how to turn 18 runs into 22, the other tries to figure out how to turn one run into the five and six seen in the preseason.

One thing was abundantly clear during the Bobcat’s postgame huddle.

This cannot happen again.

“There’s that old saying in baseball, We gotta have amnesia,” coach Randy Aguiar said after addressing his team. “I’ve got to turn the page.”

Central (0-1) will visit the 1-1 North Canyon Rattlers on Thursday for their first road game of the season.

1-0 Ironwood (1-0) takes on the 0-1 Williams Field Black Hawks tomorrow at home.