No. 10 Coconino upset No. 7 Ironwood Ridge in the first round of the 4A state playoffs held in Oro Valley Saturday afternoon. Down 5-1 after five innings of play, the Panthers scored two runs in the sixth and three more in the seventh to win the game 6-5. The Panthers will visit No. 2 Mica Mountain in the second round set for Tuesday. Mica Mountain beat No. 15 Walden Grove 10-2 to advance.

The double-elimination phase starts in the second round in the 4A Conference and the winner of the Mica Mountain/Coconino game will advance to the third round on Saturday May 9 while the loser will head to the other half of the bracket in an elimination game on Thursday. All games will be played at the higher seed until the semifinal round starts on Thursday, May 14.

Coconino (21-7) started the comeback with a leadoff double by Cassidey Castillo in the top of the sixth and then Emma Kennelly walked to put two on for Katelynn Yazzie. Yazzie connected with a shot to right field and Castillo scored to cut the lead down to 5-2. Ironwood Ridge (15-12) picked up a double play on a catch in the outfield and then a throw to get Kennelly advancing.

Summer Rhodes followed with a single to move Yazzie to second base and then Sophia Ormsby knocked her in to cut the Nighthawk lead down to 5-3. Devyn Caesar doubled for Ironwood Ridge in the bottom of the sixth but she was left stranded and the Panthers had one more chance to catch the Nighthawks.

Norah Kennelly started the top of the seventh off with a double and then Hailey Householder singled. Emma Kennelly came up with an RBI one out later to score Norah Kennelly to cut the lead down to 5-4 with one out with Householder standing on third base. Yazzie hit a groundball in the infield and Householder came home to tie the game 5-5 on the out at first base.

Emma Kennelly was on second base with two outs and then Savannah Waters singled to move her to third base. Rhodes put the ball in play and Emma Kennelly scored on an infield error to give the Panthers a 6-5 lead.

Joliee Romero was hit by pitch with one out to put a runner on for the Nighthawks and then Brooklyn Wilson was walked to move Romero to second base with one out but the game ended on an infield double play.

The Nighthawks went up 1-0 on an RBI double from Peyton Key in the bottom of the first and that held up until Hayden Nixon doubled in another run in the bottom of the fourth. Norah Kennelly brought in Rhodes to cut the lead down to 2-1 in the fifth but Romero hit a three-run shot in the bottom half of the inning for what looked like a game-winning 5-1 lead.

Norah Kennelly (9-5) threw five innings with four strikeouts and Jade Sandoval (7-1) closed the game out for the Panthers. Hayden Bores (7-9) went the distance for the Nighthawks. Romero finished her senior year with six home runs and 31 RBIs.