The Pueblo Warriors reached the quarterfinal round of the Division IV state playoffs in the spring of 2016, territory the program hadn’t seen in a generation. A reconfiguration to the 4A Conference the next year saw the team slip out of playoff contention and then eight wins in 2018 dropped the team to No. 36 in the conference, far removed from the gains the program had made from No. 45 in 2015 and No. 52 in 2014.

Three players remain from that 2016 squad. They were all freshmen then and they thought winning was easy. Antonio Garcia, Martin Martinez and Elijah Simental played through the high of 2016 and they have helped recapture some of that magic this spring by winning the 4A Gila Region and the automatic playoff berth that comes with it.

“My freshman year was a really good experience,” Simental said. “I was pushed and my teammates pushed me to get better and better. It was a crazy year, coming two games from a state championship but we just couldn’t pull it out my sophomore year and then last year it looked like everyone was playing for themselves.”

Another throwback to the 2016 squad is head coach Robert Fuentes. A former All-City player for the Warriors himself, Fuentes was an assistant coach in 2016 and he has guided the Warriors to another region title in his first year as the skipper.

“We had a game plan from Coach Fuentes and we followed it,” Simental added. “We struggled early but got it right again. It feels good.”

Pueblo started the season out with four straight losses and the Warriors were only 2-6 three weeks ago. But ten straight wins has the team ranked No. 21 and ready for the playoffs. The latest victory came Thursday against No. 37 Rio Rico. The 7-1 decision over the Hawks put the finishing touches on Senior Night.

Simental got the start and he picked up seven strikeouts in four innings of work and he got all the offense he needed in the bottom of the second inning thanks to a solo shot from Gustavo Enriquez and an RBI double from Martinez. Martinez plated the fourth senior, Chucky Carranza.

Pueblo added five runs in the bottom of the fourth, including a bases-clearing error and Rio Rico scored a run in the top of the fifth for the final margin.

Rio Rico is now 5-12 in power-ranking games, the lowest point of Moises Duran’s tenure with the program. A former Sunnyside and University of Arizona standout, Duran has seen plenty of ups and downs in baseball but he says he finally saw something new this year.

“I’ve seen inexperience, injuries and ineligible players but never all three at the same time,” Duran said. “We still have one more game on our schedule but I feel this experience is going to help our freshmen moving forward. They had to learn a lot of information to get ready and a lot of it they heard for the first time. I see them growing from this year.”

Rio Rico lost to Salpointe 2-0 in the first round of the 4A playoffs in 2017 and the Lancers went on to take second place in the conference race that year to the powerful Nogales program. Success and failure comes and goes quickly in the game of baseball and Pueblo and Rio Rico know that better than almost anyone.

Rio Rico will host No. 7 Canyon del Oro next Monday, April 22 to close out the year. The Dorados are playing for a high seed in the playoffs and the Hawks will be celebrating their seniors before turning things over to their freshmen.

The 4A Play-In Tournament is scheduled for Wednesday, April 24 and the first round of the state playoffs is set for Saturday, April 27.