Ironwood Ridge. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

 

No. 1 Salpointe took full advantage of the extraordinarily deep dimensions at Hi Corbett Field in Tucson to record two inside-the-park home runs in one inning to defeat No. 5 Ironwood Ridge 8-5 Wednesday night to advance to the 4A state championship game slated to be played Monday night at Tempe Diablo Stadium against No. 14 Flagstaff. Game time is set for 7 p.m. and will be played on the NFHS Network.

The double-elimination format ended in the third round in the 4A level so the state final will be a one-game affair with the winner bringing home the state trophy. Flagstaff (22-9) beat No. 10 Saguaro 6-3 in the other semifinal played Wednesday night. Saguaro ended the season with an 18-12-1 record after the Sabercats won the state championship last year over Canyon del Oro. The Dorados are competing in the 5A Conference this year.

Ironwood Ridge (25-8) scored two runs in the top of the first inning with Angel Figueroa knocking in Keanu Bracamonte and Clifford Graves brining in Brayden Gessler later in the inning. The Nighthawks were on an incredible run, winning ten of their last 11 regular season games after dropping five of six midway through the season, heading into Wednesday night, and it looked like the magic was to continue after the fast start, but the bottom half of the first inning slowed the team down.

Colton Raetzman doubled in Paul Saffer to cut the lead down to 2-1 and then Aciel Guillen came up a few batters later and hit a line drive to a gap in the outfield to bring in thee runs including himself in the first inside-the-park home run of the inning. The dimensions of the park are 366 feet to left field, 410 feet to center-left, 392 feet to straight-away center, 405 feet to center-right, and 349 feet to right field according to the University of Arizona. Flyballs are easy outs at Hi Corbett but if a ball gets past an outfielder not used to its size then extra-base hits are common and that’s what happened when Johnny Abramian hit his own inside-the-park home run later in the inning to make it 7-2 Salpointe.

The Nighthawks cut the lead down to 7-3 on an RBI double from Jordan Garcia in the third inning but the Lancers got the run back in the bottom of the fifth inning on an RBI double from Lucas Shannon. Ironwood Ridge scored a run in the sixth after Brody Young tripled and the team cut the lead down to 8-5 in the seventh with two runners on and no outs but Sam Meisner (5-1) picked up a strikeout and then a double play to end the threat and the game. Meisner took the mound from Izaiah Moraga (9-1) in the top of the seventh. Moraga finished with nine strikeouts for the win.

Wyatt Charnoki (10-2) got the start for the Nighthawks and Seve Sissac (1-1) also saw time on the mound. Former Marana Mountain View and Pima College standout Zach Busby took the head coaching position at Ironwood Ridge in April and Salpointe (24-4-1) head coach Danny Preble is making his fifth championship appearance since 2017 and he earned a state championship in 2019. Flagstaff head coach Kenny Macias is leading the Eagles to the first state final in program history.