Sameer Malla is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover North Canyon High School for AZPreps365.com

PHOENIX – North Canyon’s five-game winning streak was snapped on Saturday, as the Rattlers lost 7-6 to Lake Havasu at Bowen Field.

For the first time since opening day a month ago, North Canyon had a challenge on its hands. The offense provided four runs through three innings. North Canyon freshman pitcher Jorge Cordero pitched three scoreless innings, allowing a lone infield single and striking out six. The Rattlers then gave up five runs in the next three innings, while only adding two runs of their own to hold a one-run lead (6-5) heading into the decisive seventh inning.

Lake Havasu, with the top of its lineup leading off the seventh, flew out to centerfield and smacked a single to the same location two batters in. A groundout and another single later, Lake Havasu senior first baseman Logan Vetter was at the plate. Two outs. One man at first base, in a tie game (6-6). No pressure.

Vetter laced the first pitch he saw past the outstretched arms of North Canyon centerfielder Jaydon Elmore and hustled around the bases with a standup triple. 7-6, Lake Havasu.

“Well, [North Canyon sophomore Omar Martinez] left the pitch over the plate,” Vetter said. “I just wanted to get a base hit to get the rally going. We had two outs in a tie game, so it's never over till it's over.”

Lake Havasu head coach Cullen Stahl was pleased with the comeback win on the road.

“We preach all the time just keep battling and eventually we'll will chip away, chip away,” Stahl said. “We use the saying ‘how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.’ We didn't try to get it all back. We just tried to go one run each inning. We knew we were going to come back. We don't know if we could stop them from scoring, but we knew we were going to score a bunch.”

North Canyon attempted a comeback of its own in the bottom half of the seventh inning. After leadoff hitter Cody Skartveit doubled on the fifth pitch of his at-bat, the Rattlers' next three batters all meekly bowed out, two to strikeouts.

Martinez, who had allowed only one hit, no runs and struck out four in his last two relief appearances, gave up five runs and did not strike out a single batter in two innings of work.

The pitching was not at fault, according to North Canyon head coach Jeff Fierro.

“We had way too many errors,” Fierro said. “We could have put this game away a lot earlier and we didn’t, and we kicked the ball around and we would pay for it.”

Fierro pinpointed the fourth inning error that resulted in the first Lake Havasu run of the game. Senior leftfielder Brock Biley, starting in his first game in several weeks, overthrew Martinez at first base. The batter, Lake Havasu designated hitter Deegan Cordova, darted from first to third base on the play.

Before and after that play, Cordero had two wild pitches that resulted in the Lake Havasu batters advancing bases.

“I can't remember if it was the third or fourth inning, we kicked it around really good and they almost tied the game,” Fierro said. “The very next inning, we did the same thing. We can't do that against especially against a good program like Lake Havasu. We just can't do that.”

Stahl could not have been prouder of his Lake Havasu players after the win.

“Our kids, they believe in themselves in that we're gonna win,” Stahl said. “They're still having some little confidence issues. But like I said before, we're gonna win or lose. We're never out of it. I thought it was a well-played game by both teams. North Canyon played well. I thought we played well. But it could have gone either way.”

North Canyon (5-2) will host the Glendale Cardinals (3-4) on Tuesday at 3:45 p.m. This game is a rematch, as the Rattlers shut-out the Cardinals in Glendale back on March 8th, 12-0.

Lake Havasu (6-3) will remain on the road, as it faces Verrado (4-1) on Tuesday, at 3:45 p.m. The Knights will look to avenge Friday's 8-4 loss to the Vipers.