Salpointe defeated Cienega 5-1 Tuesday in a rematch of the Division II state championship game last year where the Bobcats prevailed 9-2. The Lancers (13-1 overall, 8-1 in power-ranking games) have reloaded despite the loss of seven seniors while Cienega (9-9, 3-3) is still trying to find an identity.

Salpointe broke into the MaxPreps Top 25 nationally after winning the Bishop Gorman Kick Off Classic in Las Vegas last week.  The Lancers came into the week ranked 12th nationally according to MaxPreps and 48th in the computer rankings. Either way, the team is back and a lot of it has to do with the return of Brianna Aguilar-Beaucage to the circle.

Pitching is almost everything in softball and the Lancers reached the title game last year thanks in part to senior ace Delfina Morales (17-7) and junior Aguilar-Beaucage (11-1). Cienega, on the other hand, dominated the field thanks to the work of senior Kayla Green (19-5).

Aguilar-Beaucage is now the seasoned senior ace and that's huge in softball while Cienega is going with a crew of young, worthy but inexperienced hurlers in sophomore Anicela Parra, freshman Emily Maddux and junior Shae Bushey.  Look for the Bobcats to find their way once their crew gets more work.

Parra got the start for Cienega Tuesday and sophomore Mikayla Santa Cruz took the circle for Salpointe. Santa Cruz won a couple of games in Las Vegas and she, like Aguilar-Beaucage last year, is getting valuable pitching time to prepare for this season and the future.

Santa Cruz gave up two hits in the top of the first to Taylor Lambert and Kaitlyn Anderson but she escaped with no damage and shut down five batters in a row until Aguilar-Beaucage replaced her with one out in the top of the third.

Meanwhile, Parra had some difficulty early and loaded the bases on walks in the bottom of the first but a groundout RBI by Megan Flores that scored Yannira Acuña was all she would give up.

Salpointe added two unearned runs in the bottom of the second with freshman Malaealani Baray-Rocha connecting on a single to score fellow freshman Dian Montano and Acuña after an infield error extended the inning.

Baray-Rocha is the daughter of head coach Amy Baray-Rocha and her father Oscar is an assistant coach. Amy Baray-Rocha was the Arizona Big School Coach of the Year last season.

"It feels great to be with my family everyday," Malaealani explained. "We are together at every game and it helps with our team chemistry and our team motto."

The Lancer team motto is, "Keep Smiling, Keep Shinning" according to Malaealani.

Salpointe scored two more in the bottom of the fourth after Acuña scored on an error and Flores knocked in Baray-Rocha. Bushey took the circle for Cienega with one out in the fourth and she held the Lancers the rest of the way despite loading the bases in the sixth where a double-play helped her end that threat.

Aguilar-Beaucage stopped six Bobcat batters in a row until sophomore Miranda Carley connected on a pinch-hit single with two outs in the top of the fifth. As a freshman, Carley batted .489 with six doubles, five triples, four home runs and 28 RBIs. It was one of the top performances at any level last year.

Sydney Kratzert followed with a single to put two on and Abby Doughty scored Carley to cut the lead down to 5-1 but Aguilar-Beaucage shut down the next seven of eight batters to close out the game for Salpointe.

"We have a lot of big shoes to fill from last year when we were state champions," Carley said. "But we practice hard and have a lot of effort and are trying to help out our seniors (Micaela Barber and Kratzert) have success this year again."

Carley committed to Cal-State Fullerton after her incredible freshman season.

The first AIA/MaxPreps power rankings will come out on Wednesday.