Thirty minutes before a 6 p.m. first pitch, John Fogerty’s “Centerfield” blares over a singular speaker that barely drowns out the loud buzz of the decades-old fluorescent lights. While most teams prefer a 3:45-4:00 p.m. start, Alhambra evening starts help bring together a community around baseball. On that day's game, a Monday night affair in mid-April against central Phoenix's Brophy Broncos, all three sets of bleachers were packed.

The Alhambra Lions, reminiscent of ‘Say Hey’ Willie Mays, Ty Cobb and Joe DiMaggio times, took the field, lining up in pods of two at each defensive position. Outfielders take fly balls while infielders re-acclimate to the choppy field that produces the notorious ‘Alhambra hop’.

The infield flows as a unit, one that’s played together for years. Seniors Eder Vargas (third base), Erubiel ''Edu'' Ortiz (shortstop) and Benji Delcid (catcher) have started on the Lions since freshman year. The trio, along with Marco Pacheco (first base) and senior Leo Robledo (left field) have been playing together since they were eight years old, on a team that Vargas’s father started.

Their chemistry makes difficult plays routine, and remarkable plays commonplace. Vargas is a vacuum at third, playing all 28 regular-season games without committing an error. Ortiz has range not common among high school shortstops, and between him and his second baseman Jose Escalante, the Lions have turned 10 double plays this season. Senior Eddie Cotto, who acts as the team’s Swiss Army knife, has committed only two errors while filling in at first or second, depending on who’s taking the mound.

“That’s the best middle infield in the state right there,” Pacheco, who also serves as the rotation’s ace, says. “They make every play. Nothing’s getting past them. … I can trust those guys with my whole life.”

Against Brophy, Pacheco threw a gem, giving up five hits, one run and striking out nine in Alhambra's 7-1 victory over the top-15 opponent. His defense helped him out with no errors, the twelfth time the team played flawless defensively.

Amongst Arizona’s most dedicated high school baseball circles, people love to talk about Alhambra’s prolific offense, whose 357 total runs rank second in the nation at the end of the regular season according to MaxPreps. But on Camelback Road in West Phoenix, the Lions take pride in their defense, and their infield/outfield warm ups (I/Os) set the tone for the unit that allowed only 1.61 runs per game this season.

Structured and regimented, Alhambra I/Os would feel more at home on a military base than a baseball diamond. Head coach Shea Clark watches over his players like a soft-spoken commander. Pacheco flubs a pick attempt at first on a low throw. 

“The lineup is still fluid,” the reigning Arizona Republic high school baseball Coach of the Year sternly reminds his first baseman. “We can always go and make changes before the game.”

“I’m probably the biggest coach in the state that thinks (I/Os are) important,” Clark says. “When the other team sees across the field and they see us taking I/O, we want them to already be defeated. We want them to know that, ‘Okay, we got no chance or we better strap our shoes on because we know we’re in for a fight right here.’”

I/Os are only a small piece of the Lions’ puzzle designed to psych out their opponents. Clark wants his team to squeeze as much on the basepaths as possible. They’ve totaled 97 steals on the season, good for second in 6A behind Queen Creek.

Racking up victories with final scores of 38-1 and 28-0, detractors might accuse Clark’s squad of being in bad taste or of having poor sportsmanship with their base-running tactics. But for the Lions, who only faced four 6A squads that qualified for the playoffs across the whole season, every moment has to be a learning opportunity. 

On the final Saturday of the regular season, Alhambra traveled three hours southwest to Yuma to face off against the Kofa Kings. Clark went out of his way to schedule the trip as a team-bonding activity entering the playoffs. 

In the days approaching the trip Clark kept repeating “this team is just good enough to ruin your season.” But Alhambra still knew they should win against the then-No. 32-ranked team in 6A. And knew they needed to win to keep their No. 2 seed in the rankings, which would help them avoid Hamilton’s side of the bracket.

After the 10-2 victory at Kofa, Clark huddled his team and asked the boys how they thought they played. Universally, the team that strives for perfection showed distaste for their performance in a game riddled with mistakes.

In the first inning, courtesy runner Nico Reyes made a costly base-running error that turned a bases-loaded situation into a double play. The freshman slid into second on a fielder's choice attempt that pulled Kofa’s second baseman off the bag, but assuming he was out, Reyes started walking back to the dugout. While the bench was screaming at Reyes to get back, Ortiz took off from third and was thrown out at home right after Kofa applied the tag on Reyes.

Erubiel Ortiz gets thrown out at the plate in the first inning of Alhambra’s 10-2 victory over Kofa. (Ethan Schwager photo/AZPreps365)

In the fourth, Kofa scored its first run on a throwing error from Delcid on a stolen base attempt and Escalante lost control, giving up three hits after starting the game with three perfect innings. For a team aspiring to win a state title, letting non-playoff bound Kofa back into the game is not acceptable.

“These are the things that are going to make or break us in these big games in the playoffs,” Clark said.

In the sixth, right fielder Gerardo Montoya grounded out to end the inning and slammed his helmet on the ground. Clark immediately pulled him from the game. 

“If one of the greatest hitters in the history of the game can put the team first,” Clark told his team, referring to Miguel Cabrera who had recently reached 2,999 career hits in a loss and spoke to the media about putting his team success first, “you should be able to ground out in a 10-2 game without slamming your helmet. … It’s about the team, it’s about the game.”

While the pursuit of perfection seems like an impossible goal, the Lions have nearly achieved it several times. In five of their 28 games, their opponent did not record a hit. In one of those, they did not record a baserunner. And in those five games, six different pitchers contributed.

However, amongst a group of peer schools in Metro Phoenix that are struggling to keep up, Alhambra has thrived. It hasn’t had a losing season since 2008. It won the Arizona Division III state championship in 2016, back when the AIA factored in the amount of students on free or reduced lunch into conference assignments. 

Last season, the Lions went on a run to the 6A state title game as the No. 4 seed, knocking off No. 1 seeded Hamilton in the semifinals. This year they achieved the first-ever perfect regular season in program history at 19-0. Including tournaments that don’t count toward AIA standings, they finished 27-1 with the only blemish a 7-3 defeat to Gilbert at the Bob Everett classic in early March.

Former head coach and ambassador of the program Ron Scott believes that the coaching staff and community set Alhambra apart. Their five assistant coaches are all alumni of the school and have a combined 67 years of coaching at Alhambra.

Even in his fifth year of coaching Alhambra, Clark comes across as a newcomer compared to his colleagues. With a recommendation from Scott, Clark came over from Paradise Valley as a teacher, baseball coach and golf coach, which led to many of the varsity baseball players doubling up on golf in the fall. Since joining, he’s led Alhambra to a record of 90-23 in all competitions entering 2022’s playoffs. In the last three years, the team is 57-5. 

When Clark stepped down as a teacher and golf coach to focus on his own business last spring, Alhambra athletic director Wendy Truvillion feared she might be searching for a new baseball coach for 2022. But when Truvillion approached Clark about whether he’d remain the baseball coach, Clark stated that he’d stay as long as the school would have him, Truvillion says. 

In the dugout, the assistants act like a Greek chorus, both grounding the team as people who’ve seen it all, and adding lighthearted comments that boost their morale.

Coaches Victor “Pollo” Contreras (who took over the golf team this fall) and Jorge “Carrillo” Bird serve as examples to the current players of the lifelong relationship that being an Alhambra Lion can provide. The pair met as children back in 1999, graduated from Alhambra together in 2007 and have now coached together for a decade. This current set of players want to foster those same relationships.

“We live in an area where it’s not — y’know, a lot of poverty, a lot of gang violence and all that,” Robelo says. “But I just come here to mainly be with my friends, have a good time and also play baseball with my boys.”

Before senior night, Alhambra didn’t have class, so a group of seniors including Robelo, Vargas and Ortiz played a round at Encanto golf course. Robelo and Vargas hope that this is a tradition they can keep for life. 

“Golf like old guys, that’s the goal” Vargas says.

“You know, we see Pollo and Bird,” Robelo says, “That's what we look up to. That’s what we want to be like. To be friends when we are 40.”

As the team churns through playoffs, that chemistry is going to be important. The seniors that have been playing together for years will need to continue to click on defense because Clark, despite his team averaging 12.75 runs per game, is scared about his offense’s ability in the playoffs against some of the top pitchers in the state.

“I guess it’s a small sample size,” Clark says. No. 3 Mountain Ridge, No. 11 Brophy Prep and No. 14 Mountain View Mesa didn’t throw either of their top two starters against the Lions during the regular season. When the 6A playoffs are filled with fireballers committed to University of Arizona and ASU, defense will be necessary for the Lions to survive and advance.

As the No. 2 seed, the Lions have home-field advantage throughout the tournament, either playing games at their own field, Hohokam Stadium or Tempe Diablo Stadium. Clark considers home field a tremendous advantage for his squad, specifically his defense.

“Teams aren’t used to fielding on these choppy fields,” Clark says. “I guarantee there’ll be an ‘Alhambra hop’.”