Canyon del Oro represented the Tucson-area community of Oro Valley in grand style in last year’s  Division II softball championship game by defeating Peoria Sunrise Mountain.
Now it is Ironwood Ridge’s turn to see if it can repeat the feat.
The Nighthawks will meet Sunrise Mountain on Monday (May 13) at 5:30 p.m. at Arizona State’s Farrington Stadium after stunning Phoenix Greenway 7-5 in an elimination game on Friday night (May 10) at the Rose Mofford Sports Complex in north Phoenix.
Fourth-seeded Ironwood Ridge (28-10) did it by turning on the power switch. The Nighthawks hit three home runs, including two-run shots by Alex Rapp and Erin Rocker with two outs and two strikes in the bottom of the sixth inning, to erase a 5-3 deficit.
“The thing I like about this team is that it doesn’t give up. It’s battle, battle, battle,’’ said Ironwood Ridge coach Randy Anway, who has announced that this season, his 11th, will be his last guiding the Nighthawks.
His team has fought through the adversity of injuries and disciplinary action to come within one victory of winning the school’s first softball title. The Nighthawks fell to Sunrise Mountain in the old Class 5A Division II title game in 2008 and fell to Sunrise Mountain in the semifinals a year ago.
“You’ve got to get in and get on a roll, and that’s what we’ve done,’’ said Anway, whose team eliminated second-seeded CDO on Thursday night (May 8) in Tucson.
The cupboard certainly won’t be bare for Anway’s coaching successor. Ironwood Ridge has just one senior this year.
“We’ve got a good mix of speed and power,’’ he said.
Ironwood Ridge took a 3-0 lead in the second inning on catcher Robyn Porter’s three-run homer with two out.
Seventh-seeded Greenway (23-9) got a two-out solo home run from Robyn Rall in the third to make it 3-1.
Greenway tied it at 3 in the fifth on run-scoring singles by Bridgette Vargas and Rall. And the Demons took a 5-3 lead in the sixth on run-scoring singles by Kelsea Baker and Cheyann Michael.
With one out in the bottom of the sixth, Merilee Miller chopped the ball over the head of Baker at third for a double. After a fly ball for the second out, Rapp stepped to the plate and fouled off several pitches from Greenway pitcher Maddie Creed before tying the game at 5.
Crista Braunreiter then singled and Rocker rocked Creed for what would prove to be the game-winner to right field.
After Ironwood Ridge pitcher Emily Robinson easily retired the first two batters in the top of the seventh, Greenway collected three straight hits to load the bases before Robinson got the final out on a fly to left.
Anway was pleased with the way Robinson battled back from “a rough day.’’
The junior right-hander entered the season with a broken right wrist but managed to get back on track.