The signs made it known early.

The two-time 6A defending champions were going to get the chance for the rare three-peat.

No. 4 Xavier scored in the first three innings and were never threatened by No. 3 Pinnacle in an 8-2 win on Thursday at Mesa High in the Pool B championship game.

It's easy to look at eight runs or the pitching of Sydney Root as the impetus for two straight wins over the Pioneers to come through the consolation bracket to make it back to the state title game for the third straight year.

But there were other indicators that that Gators were headed to Monday's championship game against No. 1 Queen Creek at GCU.

“There was definitely something in the air tonight,” co-head coach Sydnie Sahhar said. “It was going to take a lot to keep us from going back.”

Whether it was freshman second baseman Sophia Jaramillo making two diving catches of line drives in successive innings that look to be headed to right-center gap or junior Angie Falls falling behind 0-2, shortening her swing, as so many of the Gators do, before ripping a ball through the left side to start the fourth-inning rally, Xavier seemingly had have everything in their favor.

“I saw it well off the bat and I had to layout so I could get the out,” said Jaramillo, who second diving play ended the second inning with two runners on. “Most of the plays I’ve made this year were pretty routine, but those were pretty big plays on the season.”

The really big sign that the Gators (30-5) were destined to match up with the Bulldogs for the third straight championship game came in the top of the third.

The Gators loaded the bases but Pinnacle starter Lilly Hamel had two strikes with two outs on Xavier No. 9 hitter McKenna Hackett.

An out there, and the game isn’t out of hand, but it wasn’t to be.

Hackett slashed a fly ball to the opposite field foul line, and the Pioneer left fielder came in hard in an attempt to end the inning unscathed. She came up just short, and the ball skipped past the defender and down the line to allow all three base runners to score to push it to 8-0.

“She’s really been coming on offensively,” Sahhar said. “That hit really opened it up and we knew if we just played our game we were going to be OK.”

Especially with Root on the mound as the sophomore right-hander limited a impactful Pioneer lineup to a total of four runs in back-to-back eliminations games. On Thursday, she allowed six hits, walked three and struck out seven. She allowed runs on a bases loaded walk in the fifth and a wild pitch in the seventh.

It isn’t easy to face a team in back-to-back days as the hitters are timed on the speed, have seen the spin and her release point, but it mattered not on this night.

“I think they were on me to start but my change up was better this game,” Root said. “With a game like this, hitters are usually aggressive, and the change up really helped.”

The Pioneers (21-10-1) fell short in the same spot for the third straight year. It’s a frustration point but also shows how good the program is under Corey Mathis.

“We got off to a slow start again, and it’s the wrong two games to have that happen,” Mathis said. “We’ve got a good core coming back, a good freshman group coming in and this will push us get better because we’re right there.”

Hamel’s performance doesn’t look great on paper but a couple of better pitches with two outs might have changed the course of the game. As it were, the junior held the Gators scoreless over the last four innings and stayed in after a line drive hit her pitching hand.

“It would take more than getting hit to take her out of the game,” Mathis said. “I said we have another pitcher ready to go. She said, “No, you don’t.’ It’s what makes her who she is."

The win pushes the Gators to the title game and they will have a chance to win a third straight, something that has been done once at the big-school level (Red Mountain won five straight from 2010 to 2014 in either the largest or second largest classification). 

Xavier, which has won four of the last five 6A state titles, will be ready come Monday night at 7 p.m. The Bulldogs have won both meetings this year, including a 9-1 on May 8 in the Pool A winner’s bracket.

“It’s a rivalry at this point,” Root said. “We’re pretty superstitious. We will do everything so we can to be ready for them.”

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