Dominic Pasella is an ASU Walter Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Desert Vista High School for AZPreps365. 

PHOENIX – The scoring for the Desert Vista Thunder on Thursday was like a lightning bolt: blink and you missed it. 

DVHS went runless outside of a nine-spot in the 3rd inning, but the bats were still plenty to defeat Tucson High Magnet School 9-4 on the second day of the annual Adam Donnenfield Preseason Tournament on February 26 in Phoenix.

The third inning broke open when center fielder and pitcher Ben Romaine singled on a blooper to left field, but ended up finding home on the play due to three errors from the Badger defense. It was an impromptu inside-the-park home run that brought in three runs for the Thunder, putting them up 5-0.

Romaine was not only productive in the batter's box with his hit, but was productive on the mound as well, delivering seven strikeouts in relief. Romaine went for two scoreless innings before giving up three runs in the seventh inning.

“I obviously had two shutout innings. Sure, I struggled with the zone a little, but it doesn’t matter, we got it done,” Romaine said. “Dub’s a dub.”

Before Romaine took the mound, starting pitcher Carlos Lehman delivered four scoreless innings with three strikeouts to give DVHS a strong start. Lehman had runners in scoring position in the second inning and bases loaded in the fourth, but was able to walk away unscathed in both.

“Obviously, some adversity on the bases,” Lehman said. “I got out of it. That’s what really gets me excited is that I stopped them. I didn’t let them score runs, didn’t let their momentum get up.”

Lehman was fired up after his fourth-inning performance, yelling all the way to the dugout as his teammates surrounded him with cheers and high fives.

“Carlos got in some jams early and got out of it, he just competed,” Desert Vista head coach Pat Herrera said. “I don’t think he had his best stuff, but he competed.”

Despite a nine-run outing for the Thunder on Thursday, Herrera was not totally impressed with the DVHS offense and wants to see more from it as the season continues.

“Well, they did get their butt chewed a little bit because we only scored in one inning, and we had so many chances,” Herrera said. “I think we got a little selfish once we got the lead and started trying to do too much.” 

With two outs and two strikes in the top of the seventh inning, the game ended on a slightly controversial note. 

Tucson had scored four runs in the final frame to begin a possible comeback, but a pitch clock violation for the batter repeatedly stepping out of the box ended the game. Despite the win, Desert Vista fans also went home disappointed, as the way the Thunder won left a bad taste in their mouths.

“You don’t ever want it to be non-competitive like that, whether it was on us or on them,” Herrera said after the 9-4 victory. “I’m pretty good friends with the Tucson coach… Horrible, horrible.”

Although DVHS did not win in the style it was hoping for, the Thunder advanced to 2-0 on the season and look to carry the momentum into day three of the Donnenfield tournament as they play Sunnyside High School on Friday.