Division I softball notes as state tourney dawns Saturday

Authors

Les Willsey

Staff Writer, AZPreps365.com

Division I softball notes as state tourney dawns Saturday

April 25, 2013 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365

Plenty of teams are out to end the Red Mountain-Basha hold on the Division I title. Teams learn their playoff position Thursday afternoon (April 25) during the AIA’s first ever baseball/softball bracket release show. Here are notes from some of those teams.

DIVISION I

SUNNYSIDE: Top Players, Adrianna Rosthenhausler 2nd base, lead off hitter very good hitter with two strike, good defensive play very good as a base runner, she make us go. 2. Alexis Ayala : pitcher, first base good defensive player , hit with power has 8 Hrs. 30 rbi, strong arm. Lexi Reyes #1 pitcher as of today has a record of 13-1 also plays left field. Kaylnn Martinez very good out fielder plays all 3 and also very good infielder leads the team in hits and avg. we have a very good mixture of veterans and young players should do well in the tournament.

MOUNTAIN RIDGE: Mountain Ridge High School is currently ranked #1. We have a really young team this year with 9 of our 14 being sophomores or freshmen. There isn't a player on our team that is playing the same defensive position as last year. But, the girls have been resiliant. Our pitchers consist of Sayaka Foley (12) and Kaylin Ayotte (10) and our catcher is Rheyca Riley (12). They have been astounding and have limited teams like Sunrise Mountain, Basha, Horizon, and Centennial to minimal runs. Our hitting is really deep throughout the lineup with girls like Corrin Green (11), Alyssa DiCarlo (10), Kaylin Ayotte (10), Bailey Gaffin (10), and Taylor Kaye (10) being extremely consistent and adding a ton of power. Corrin and Alyssa account for over 25 combined homeruns this year. As a coach I am extremely proud of the character and attitude of my girls.

DIVISION III

ESTRELLA FOOTHILLS: Junior second baseman Cameron McCubbins is batting .478 with 33 hits, 28 runs, 12 doubles and 9 steals. First baseman Baylor Giannini is batting .471 with 32 hits and 32 RBI. Third baseman Sam Williams is batting .424 wit, 28 hits, 24 RBI and four home runs. Senior pitcher-right fielder Zach Miller was co-pitcher of the year for D-III last year. MIller is batting .400 with 20 RBI. Pitching he is 5-2 with a 0.93 ERA and has 62 strikeouts in 45 1/3 inning. Giannini is 3-1 with a 1.40 ERA and 42strikeouts in 30 innings. Josh Nelson is 4-0 with a 0.74 ERA and 32 K’s in 19 inning.

FOUNTAIN HILLS: Andrew Bryniarski is the ace of the Falcons' staff leads the team in hitting with eight homers and 34 RBI.

MOUNTAIN VIEW SOFTBALL: Mountain View softball has had a very good season. We opened the year by winning the Dorado Classic down in Tucson. We have lost 3 regular season games all to top 10 opponent (Red Mt. 2, Horizon). We have the number one strikeout pitcher in the state Val Kaff, and she has an era down below 1. Sidney Ryan has incredible numbers as well 9 homeruns. Despite losing all of our starting infield from 2012, (2 D1, 1 Juco, 1 transfer) the Toros have responded with the best start in school history. We feel we can make some noise in the state tournament.

CHAPARRAL SOFTBALL: As a team we are hitting 398 with 8 payers over 400 AVG. Lead by Dallas McBride with a 483 AVG and 9 Home runs. This team has a good mix of speed and power and can hit with anyone.They are averaging 9 runs a game. We also took 4th in the Desert Mountain Tournament.

GILBERT SOFTBALL: Lynsey Duncan is improving every game. Overall season with tournament play she is 16-6. Offense- Alex Astorga and Emma Oker are leading our team in runs.
Dani Nelson and Marisa Stankiewicz are leading our team in HR Taylor Mc Cord is leading our team in RBI's. Together the lineup is scoring a lot of run. Defense- Is improving and trying to eliminate costly errors.

CENTENNIAL SOFTBALL: We have had quite an interesting season. I have had three different kids get into car accidents (not their faults, all rear ended) and missed several weeks. Paige mills 1b/P missed about 4 weeks or so, Brittany Bland six weeks and most recently Karina Ojeda is most likely lost for the rest of the season. The flu has runs its course several times through and we had a heart scare with one student as well. One girls mom is battling ovarian cancer and she herself had a cyst on her ovary rupture two weeks ago. Despite all of this the girls have picked their teammates up.

DESERT RIDGE SOFTBALL: Lead by Senior Shortstop Jackie Hernandez and Senior third baseman Allyssa Sanchez.
These are our only two seniors on the team.
Two great pitchers in left handed freshman Bailey Klitzke and Right handed Junior Courtney O'Brien.
Nobody outworks our starting catcher Chrysse Hausenflauck

MARANA SOFTBALL: Casey Cadenhead, Junior pitcher, 14 victories, 4 losses, 1.65 ERA, Batting 341 with 27 RBI; Jordan Wengert, Soph. pitcher, 11 wins, 2 losses, 2.20 ERA, 91 K, batting 379 with 10 doubles Hannah McCoy, Senior Center fielder, batting 405, 26 RBI, 8 doubles, 9 HR; Sierra Cuestas, Junior 3b, Batting 421, 10 doubles, 10 HR; Hailey Oesterling Senior Shortstop, batting 343, 26 RBI, 10 Doubles and 2 HR; Taylor Walker, Senior 2b, batting 370, 3 doubles and 4 triples; Marana High is having its best season in years and has won 15 of their last 16 games