Madison Bsales is an ASU Cronkite Journalism student assigned to cover Arizona Lutheran for AZPreps365.com

The Arizona Lutheran Academy junior varsity baseball team defeated St. John Paul II 7-4 in a competitive home game, with a strong fifth inning to pull ahead and secure the win. 

With steady pitching early in the game and an explosive offensive performance in the later innings, the Coyotes overcame any hiccups and took control.

ALA maintained its lead throughout the third inning behind strong pitching from Samuel Lomeli, who recorded multiple strikeouts and kept the Lions from building momentum. “The umpire kind of had a big zone, so probably just finding the corners, kind of thrown outside of, and he was calling himself,” said Lomeli.

The game stayed close through the early innings, with both teams trading defensive stops and limiting score opportunities. As the pace picked up midway through, timely hitting and disciplined pitching began to separate the ALA from St. John Paul II, setting the stage for the decisive fifth inning.

"The boys are starting to understand where they're supposed to be out on the field. They're understanding situations a lot better. Base running is an improvement, but there's still a lot to do with base running and just knowing the situations, knowing when they should be taken up, knowing when they should be sliding, just basic things like that. But we are improving on those things. We want to continue to do that,” said head JV coach Seth Zimerman. 

Throughout the opening innings, both teams had dominant defense, as Lomeli struck out all three Lions batters, followed by three strikeouts for St. John Paul II’s pitcher. The early innings set the tone, with neither team able to score.

The Coyotes put a run on the scoreboard after Nolan Frear worked a walk in the second inning. Jacob Groth followed with a hit, scoring Frear, giving ALA a 1-0 lead.

The Lions responded in the fourth inning, after a dropped ball allowed runners to advance, and scored two runs to lead 2-1. 

Despite the shift in momentum, the Coyotes quickly answered in the bottom of the fourth. Lomeli delivered a two-run single, putting the Coyotes in the lead with 3-2. 

The turning point of the game arrived in the fifth inning, when the Coyotes’ offense came to play. With Frear at the plate and Gabriel Learned and Jordan Gardner in scoring position, a dropped fly ball and a throwing error by the Lions allowed another run to score. “It was a tough play... In retrospect, we shouldn't have made that throw,” Lions JV coach Garret Heet said. “You had two people on third-and-short who didn't communicate who was covering and where, so that happens, but they'll learn from it.”

The Coyotes remained aggressive on the basepaths and ended the fifth inning with a lead of 7-3. 

The Lions attempted to rally in the sixth inning, adding one more run to the scoreboard. With the help of the Coyotes' strong defense, they were able to hold on to win

The Coyotes' ability to respond after falling behind, along with their key fifth-inning performance, secured the win and demonstrated their team's resilience.