Sameer Malla is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover North Canyon High School for AZPreps365.com

PHOENIX – North Canyon was on the ropes Friday afternoon, holding a precarious 4-3 lead against the Independence after four innings at Bowen Field. Its senior pitcher, Derek Milligan, was in the midst of a shaky start, having allowed three runs on seven hits, and throwing more first pitch balls (9) than strikes (8). The latter was a concern for North Canyon coach Jeff Fierro, as he typically wants his pitchers to start off strong and ahead in the count against opposing batters.

In came Omar Martinez in relief. The sophomore's stellar pitching—three innings, no runs, seven Ks, one walk and 11 first-pitch strikes to 12 batters faced—allowed the Rattlers to escape with a 6-3 win.

“Omar loves that moment,” Fierro said. “That's what we love about him, being a sophomore. He's still fairly young, but he throws like an upperclassman. So really happy the way he came in and kind of just shut the door on teams. It was nice to see him get a win.”

“I got there, pounding the zone, throwing my fastball,” Martinez said. “My pitches were just there today.”

North Canyon was coming off its third straight loss of the past week, with a taxed pitching staff that got hammered by the likes of Willow Canyon (by a 23-8 combined score last Friday and Monday) and Shadow Mountain (15-3) on Thursday.

“Earlier in the week, we played Willow Canyon - that was tough,” Fierro continued. “We didn't really have our pitchers. We went to two JV guys pitching against Willow Canyon (9-3) on Tuesday and that was rough, because we just kind of fell behind the eight ball there. And then yesterday, kind of the same thing. We went up against a really, really, really good lineup in Shadow Mountain (7-4) and they kind of hit us around a little bit. It was nice to see our pitching return.”

Pitching was not Martinez’s only calling card, as his clutch hitting proved vital in a tight game on Friday. He smacked a fifth-inning double off the centerfield wall, then caught Independence starting pitcher Victor Benitez off-guard with a swipe of third base two pitches later. Martinez later scored, his insurance run giving North Canyon a 5-3 cushion.

Another key moment for North Canyon occurred in the top of the fifth inning. The score was still 4-3, but Independence was on the move. After a walk to junior Octavio Vargas, freshman Xander Quintero hit a screaming line-drive double down the left field line, putting runners in scoring position with only one out.

Sophomore Bryce Tressler then struck a line drive to North Canyon freshman second baseman Jorge Cordero. In an instant, Cordero stomped on second base, as Quintero was caught leading off the base, to complete the unassisted double play. Crisis averted.

“I thought it was a line drive, like a hit,” Martinez said. “I was happy that Jorge caught it.”

“Independence had the meat of their order coming up,” Fierro said. “That play helped us - that kind of swung the momentum a little our way. We needed that and it's kind of been a story all year. We really have felt like we haven't been that lucky all year. And we needed a lucky break for us, to get out of that inning. Flip it over, our guys came in and we were able to get the job done.”

Independence head coach Darian Sandford was peeved at his squad on that play.

“[Quintero] took a step towards third base, the second baseman caught it, tagged the second base and it was an inning killer.,” Sandford said. “It definitely hurt us. Big time.”

Despite the loss, Sandford was proud of his star centerfielder in Jose Sarmiento, who went 4-for-4 with a run scored for Independence.

“I think Jose is one of the top players in the state,” Sanford continued. “He's been hitting pretty good for past week. I think he's hitting over .400 for the past week, he has a strong arm, and he's fast. Jose is only a junior and he he's been playing really well for these past couple of games. I think he should be a guy who should actually get some notoriety in the state of Arizona, because he's one of the best players in the state.”

North Canyon  (7-5) will host the Williams Field Black Hawks (6-6) on Monday at 3:45 p.m. This is the first of three games next week, as the Rattlers go on the road in a rematch against Independence on Tuesday night.