The Trojans completed a series sweep of the Titans, after defeating them 15-7 at Arcadia. Paradise Valley got an eight-run first inning in which they batted around, and a six-run seventh inning for good measure when the Titans staged a comeback. 

“I love how we started, and I love how we finished,” said Paradise Valley head coach Ira Jeffers. “In the middle there, we had a lull and we need to not let that happen. We had a big first inning, and we kind of rested on it and got complacent. I know we'll learn from it and grow from this. Maybe 15 runs is nice. But I would have liked to seen them have a good offensive approach throughout.”

The Trojans got to work quickly, as leadoff hitter Ben Richards drew a walk to begin the game. Immediately following the walk, Paradise Valley rattled off five straight hits, singles coming from Jakob Kawar, Jared Swarbrick, Gannon Aguilar, Andrew Faherty, and Chris Faherty. The first inning featured them batting around and posting eight runs.

In the bottom of the first, the Titans responded. After the leadoff batter grounded out, senior Jett Manuelito belted a triple to right center field. The next batter, Aneas Sandoval, cranked an RBI double to left, which put the Titans in the run column. A passed ball allowed Sandoval to advance to third, and the Titans capitalized again. Ryan Spier grounded out to second, but picked up an RBI driving Sandoval home.

The bottom of the third featured the Titans continuing to chip away at the six-run deficit. Leadoff hitter Ben Blanks drew a walk, stole second, and then reached third after a passed ball. After a strikeout, with one on and one out, Manuelito delivered an RBI single to center. The next two batters went down, and the score was 8-3 in favor of the Trojans. 

Arcadia continued to put runs on the scoreboard. A leadoff single into center from Andre Valdez got the Titans started in their half of the inning. Valdez was able to move into scoring position after a wild pitch. Cruise Roberts advanced Valdez to third on his single into left. The next batter, Jim Achen, took a look to third base to receive his sign. As soon as the pitcher lifted his front foot, Roberts took off for second. The hit and run was on, and Achen did his job. He lined a grounder to center and Achen picked up an RBI and moved Roberts to third. Blanks came to the plate and hit into a ground-rule double. Blanks picked up the RBI for Roberts. Putting two more on the board, cutting the lead to three.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Trojans made a pitching change to try and shut the door, bringing in junior Ben Richards. Richards got to work quickly, sending down the first batter he faced. But after allowing back-to-back walks, Arcadia threatened to score again. Richards retired the next batter. Then Quinn Carrier stepped up to the plate with two on and two out and knocked a single into center. That netted him two RBIs and his first hit of the night. Richards then got the third out and escaped with the Trojan lead intact, but only by one. It was 8-7.

“I would say that there were a couple of hits against me and a couple of calls that could have gone the other way that kind of dialed me in, really locked me in, put me in a tunnel vision mode,” said Richards.

Richards helped himself out when he drew his second leadoff walk to begin the sixth inning.

“I think it was very key. The leadoff hitter really sets the tempo for the mindset behind us. They need to be patient, you know, not jump on stuff,” Richards said. 

Entering the top of the final inning, the Trojans had a long offensive display reminiscent of the opening frame. Multiple hits and walks lead to an additional six runs for the Trojan offense in the top of the seventh. They now led 15-7.

Richards only faced four batters in the last inning. He started off hot getting a groundout. The next batter was Valdez, who picked up another hit. But then Richards really turned it on by retiring the last two batters via swinging strikeouts. The Trojans picked up the win, 15-7.