Sameer Malla is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover North Canyon High School for AZPreps365.com

AVONDALE – West Point hit lights out in its 16-6 win against slumping North Canyon on senior night. The Dragons scored a run in nearly every inning, with eight of the nine batters scoring at least one run, punctuated by an eight-run sixth inning to end the evening.

“We just came out, played great baseball,” West Point coach Sean McCorry said. “We had timely hitting and great pitching when we needed the pitching to step up, especially when we got the lead late. We just kept throwing strikes and made them try to beat us offensively.”

West Point seniors Samuel Pulido and Chris Pacheco were honored before the game in front of the home crowd and responded with their performances at the plate. Pulido, the catcher, went 3-for-5 with a stolen base, two runs and three RBI. Pacheco, the shortstop, went 2-for-4 with a fourth inning triple to go along with three runs and three RBI and a stolen base of his own.

“The seniors did a great job,” McCorry said. “Pacheco had a couple of hits. He had a big triple with a runner on first who scored that run. And then, and then Pulido came up late and had a really big knock with two outs [in the sixth inning].”

West Point freshman Hunter Gallinger put on the finishing touches with a two-run double, a gapper, to extend the lead to 16-6 in that sixth inning. That sent his teammates into a frenzy, as his two RBI activated the 10-run mercy rule. They mobbed him as he rounded second base.

“It felt nice to hit that double,” Gallinger said. “It was my only good hit of the evening.”

A modest quote from the freshman, who went 3-for-4 with two runs, four RBI and three stolen bases.

The Dragons now have won eight of their last nine games, with a ten-run margin of victory over this end-of-the-season stretch, as the team makes a push for the playoffs. The streak includes a dominating 38-5 win over the Glendale Cardinals (4-11), which featured a 13-run first inning and a subsequent 17-run fourth inning.

“I told the guys at the beginning of the season, when we were playing teams like Sunrise Mountain (13-2), Boulder Creek (8-8), Verrado (14-1) … a lot of good teams,” McCorry said. “Just learn from these games, stick to the process, trust the process, and I promise you, you will have an opportunity to play for the championship. And now they've earned that right. It wasn't gonna happen until we beat this team, and now we have an opportunity. I can't wait till Friday. We get a chance.”

North Canyon, however, has now been on a tailspin with just a home-and-home set of games remaining on the schedule. The Rattlers lost their seventh game in the last eight, scoring an average of only 3.6 runs per game, while giving up 10.6 runs during this stretch. This, in comparison to their hot 6-2 start of the season, when the Rattlers scored 13 runs per game and allowed 4.6 runs per game. Injuries, like losing starting catcher Cody Skartveit with a broken wrist in the loss to Independence a week ago, just exacerbated this plunge, according to head coach Jeff Fierro.

“We're not playing good baseball right now at all,” Fierro said. “We've got a ton of injuries, we got hit with an ineligible player, it's just the whole storm. Our hitting dropped off. We put our ace on the bump. He didn't have it today. Right now, nothing is going right.”

Freshman Jorge Cordero was on the mound to start the game, but only lasted 1 and 1/3 of an inning, allowing seven baserunners and four runs until he was yanked for reliever (and cleanup hitter) Omar Martinez.

To make matters worse, several situations arose throughout the night where North Canyon fielders let casual fly balls drop to the ground, with two or more players converging but not calling for the ball. In addition, four wild pitches were thrown by North Canyon pitchers and eight total West Point steals were allowed on the evening, resulting in more runners advanting and more runs for West Point to cross the plate.

“It's frustrating because we are not even half the team that we were the first part of the year,” Fierro continued. “That's just kind of been the thing about building a program in North Canyon. We are constantly battling the culture that was there and the kind of stuff we're trying to do. Some of that is fighting that will of wanting to give up. We're kind of in that part of the season where we've now lost seven of eight games and I'm trying to keep some guys on, so we got to do the right things. We got to run balls out. We got to stop spotting teams runs, especially when they are decent teams. We cannot give them runs and often then decide to fight back.”

North Canyon (7-9) will host Washington (4-12) on senior night as part of a home-and-home affair on Thursday at 3:45 p.m. The rematch, and the team's season finale, will occur next Monday at Washington.

As for West Point, the red-hot Dragons (10-6) will stay at home to face the Willow Canyon Wildcats (11-4) in a marquee matinee matchup on Friday afternoon.