Noah Peters let out a primal scream, bounded off the mound and brought his arms to his chest as he made his way back to the Ironwood Ridge dugout.

The senior right-hander struck out the side in the vital fifth inning Wednesday even though the Nighthawks’ lead was nearly double digits.

A shut down inning immediately after grabbing a lead is about as important as it gets in keeping the momentum going in the right direction. After the Ironwood Ridge offense sent 12 batters to the plate, and scored seven runs Saguro needed something.

Instead – the 2, 3, and 4 hitters went down 1-2-3 in the No. 9 Nighthawks’ third-straight win over a better seed to advance to the 4A Pool A championship game with a 9-4 win over No. 4 Saguaro at Tempe Diablo Stadium.

“I just couldn’t hold it in at that moment,” Brown said of his emotions. “I had to bear down right there, especially with our bats hot. I wanted to get back into the dugout as fast as I could.”

His emotions emanated throughout the entire team.

“A lot of that emotion he had came through to us,” said junior No. 9 hitter Tristin McQuay, who had a two-run single in the big rally. “When he’d strike someone out, he was going absolutely bonkers. We were feeling that not only in the field but the dugout, too.”

Ironwood Ridge defeated No. 24 Shadow Ridge in the play-in round before knocking off No. 8 Walden Grove and No. 1 Crismon before taking on the Sabercats, who have been to at least the semifinals in three straight years including a state championship in 2024.

Meanwhile, the Nighthawks (24-7-1) sit one win away from playing in their first championship in school history after having the year in the semifinals last season.

“We’ve been playing together since we were 10 years old,” said designated hitter Brennan Wilson, who had a two-run single in the big inning. “We are a team of brothers. It helps us believe in each other and we know if we get punched in the face we’re going to right back up and do the same to them.”

Oh and Ironwood Ridge coach Julian Encinas is in his first year in dugout after his playing career ended at Crown College in Minnesota. The Amphi product has infused a belief system and excitement in the program.

The team has been using a mantra all season, but Encinas wanted to leave it in the dugout instead of going public with it just yet.

“We have more work to do,” he said with a smile. “We came together quickly, but I had to prove to myself to them, they had to trust what I was saying was true and I was going to not only hold them accountable but myself, too.”

Saguaro (21-8) knows a little something about that as coach Gerald Laird has the program’s expectations of playing late into May. The Sabercats battled back by adding two in the sixth and one in the seventh.

The seventh inning rally ended in a unique situation when a bases loaded drive to right field was dropped by the outfielder. The base runners had to hold to see if it was caught and because of that the hitter ran past the runner on first.

After an appeal and much discussion, the hitter was called out for the second out the truncate what might have been a big rally rather than just the single run.

The Sabercats will regroup and prepare for consolation bracket play with hopes of making it back to the championship game for the third time in four years.

“We didn’t execute early in the game and it got them feeling good after already coming in on a high,” said Laird, referring to three early errors. “We couldn’t dig ourselves out of it.

“We gotta win three games to get into the championship game before losing one. That’s the task and we’ll be ready for it.”  

Saguaro plays at Crismon on Saturday. The winner advances to play Ironwood Ridge on May 13, having to beat the Nighthawks two games in a row to make the 4A title game.

“We’re in a good position, but we know we’re going to get someone who is coming off a win,” Encinas said. “We will work hard and be ready for whoever it is.”

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