Arop Kual is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Deer Valley High School for AZPreps365.com.

The Deer Valley Skyhawks softball team has not made the state playoffs since 2010.

For the third year in a row they found themselves again in a play-in game, this time around after finishing with a 15-2 record and a region title.

In a tough defensive showdown, the Skyhawks were able fly past the Poston Butte Broncos in a 1-0 victory and finally break through. Pitcher Adyson Ordway led the team to the victory with a game-high 14 strikeouts. 

"We focused on not being surprised, being ready for the ball expecting the ball every play, even with our strikeout pitcher in the circle our defense was ready for every pitch,” said first-year coach Michael Hagele.

It wasn’t until the fourth inning that the run of the game was scored.That’s when  infielder Priscilla Lopez, who got onto first base then proceeded to steal second before running home after an Ordway hit went deep into right field.

“The pitcher today was a little bit different from what we seen today, I feel like we were able to hit her off. She was a little faster but we did our job and got a score,” Lopez said.

Ordway stated that the run Lopez was able to get gave the team more confidence to continue to hit.

“She knew what she was doing, very smart in the circle we would get close enough to make a swing but she was very smart and got very lucky we put our bat on at the right time and had things bounce our way today,” Hagele said.

“She was definitely a lot different from what we’ve seen the past couple games, she was a lot more focused with mixing up corners and high and low pitches,” Aubrey Leyba, who plays first base for Deer Valley, said.

Lopez stated that the team's hunger for the playoffs played a factor into entering the third inning where the hits started coming in.

“We have already seen her and figured out what she was doing with her pitches,” Ordway stated.

Leyba stated that they picked up on the Broncos pitcher, it took them time but they were able to begin to recognize what they were facing.

“We were just on our toes the whole time, we knew to communicate, especially our pitchers,” Lopez said.

“I feel really great, I have been wanting to make it farther and get to state, it made me more confident going forward,” Ordway said.

“As a whole team on defense we felt more confident today, we were talking with our pitcher every pitch, we were expecting every hit everyone was in the game today,” Leyba added.

With clinching their first playoff berth in 14 years the Hagele and the Skyhawks have to focus on what is ahead.