Taylyn Hadley is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Westwood High School for AZPreps365.com.

Mesa – The Westwood Warriors let loose on Friday afternoon at Dobson Ranch Golf Course and took the opportunity of playing a round of golf scramble to not only bond with the other Division One teams, but to also let out some pre-state jitters.

“Yeah, look at it go,” junior Jessica Deiter cheered as she chipped a perfect shot onto the green. 

These words would define the atmosphere of day two of the Girls Mesa City Championship very well. A day that was mostly scratched and focused around getting all the Division One players together and playing a round of relatively stress-free golf.

“This was just a fun day to get all the girls together to bond,” Westwood Coach Ellie Reiks said. “This did not count for anything, it was just a fun day.”

For Friday’s match, teams consisted of four to five players with one or two girls from each school on a team. They played a nine-hole round of golf scramble and the team that finished their round the closest to par were deemed the champions, much like standard stroke golf.

However, the foundation of golf scramble is quite different from standard stroke golf. In teams of four to five, each player gets the opportunity to tee off. Then as a group, they decide which ball was played the best to take their next shot from. Everybody shoots from each ball placement. This continues until the first person puts their ball in the hole. 

Although no technical scores were accounted for regarding state placement, Westwood senior Jocelyn Phillips was the only Warrior on the five-girl team that won Friday's scramble. The team ended the round shooting even par. The front nine at Dobson Ranch Golf Course is a par 37.

“(Playing scramble) is much easier,” Phillips said. “If you hit a bad shot then you can rely on your teammates.”

Coming off of her Senior Night on Monday where she shot a 49 against Perry and Highland, Phillips sank one of her longest putts of the season at 25 feet to assist in her team’s victory. 

“She (Jocelyn) was definitely a leader in her group,” Reiks said. 

As the girls participated in what could be a few of their last matches of the season, they were glad to be able to bring it to a close in such an enjoyable manner.

Westwood’s Desiree Hall tees off at the par-4 eighth hole on Friday. (Taylyn Hadley photo/AZpreps365)

The rest of the Westwood team who played on Friday was made up of juniors Jessica Deiter, Desiree Hall and Zoe Hernandez,  who were all smiles after finishing. 

Deiter had high praise for Hall, who was one of her four teammates.

“She (Desiree) hit really far, which was really convenient for me,” Deiter said. “You know, teamwork makes the dream work.” 

While Friday was focused a lot on destressing for the girls after a hard-fought season, those who qualified for the Division One Championship is to be determined and on a few of the girls’ minds. 

While it does not look like the Warriors as a team will qualify for state, Deiter and Phillips are still in the hunt to qualify as singles and are hoping to get the good news in the next couple of weeks. 

The official standings come out Oct. 19.

The Division One Championship will take place at Omni Tucson National Golf Resort on Oct. 24-25.