Sahuarita held on to defeat Empire at home Monday to improve to 8-4 in power-ranking games and the 3-1 victory came a few days after the Mustangs dropped a 9-4 decision at Mountain View Marana. The Mustangs are currently ranked No. 8 in the 4A Conference and the program is in position to retain a high ranking with only seven games remaining in the regular season.

The Mustangs also have a tight grip on the 4A Gila Region at 4-0 with an average score of 14-2. The region champions in the 4A Conference will earn an automatic berth to the play-in tournament at the very least.

Empire is now 7-2 in ranking games and the Ravens compete in the difficult 3A South Region where the final standings will be up in the air until the final few games with Sabino and Tanque Verde in the mix. At any rate, the top two teams in each of the regions in the 3A Conference will also earn an automatic berth.

Sahuarita jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning and a 2-run single from Kealey Myhre proved to be the difference after Brenna Figueroa led things off with a double and Leah Salas drew a walk. Salas hit a solo shot in the third inning to put Sahuarita up 3-0.

Empire got on the scoreboard in the top of the sixth after Vanessa Candito picked up an RBI groundout to score Angelina Dehler who reached on a one-out single. Morgan Faunce followed with a double to move Dehler to third for Candito. Haley Ehlert and Eva Peace drew walks to load the bases with two outs but Figueroa collected her first strikeout of the game to end the threat. Figueroa replaced McKayla Fackler in the sixth inning. Fackler scattered seven hits to earn her ninth victory.

Candito collected 10 strikeouts in the loss, upping her total to 95 on the year which comes out to over six K’s an outing. Faunce went 2-3 for Empire and Dehler went 2-4. Salas finished 2-2 for Sahuarita.

Empire hosts Sabino (8-1) on Tuesday and Sahuarita travels to Douglas (4-5) on Wednesday.