Canyon del Oro scored four runs in the bottom of the first to help pace the Dorados to an 11-5 victory over Catalina Foothills at home on senior night. The win was an important one for Canyon del Oro (20-7) because it kept the Dorados close to a top seed in the Division II state playoffs.

If we use last year as an example, all eight top seeds in the tournament advanced to the double-elimination round. Simply, a top-eight seed puts you one step closer to that important round due to the first-round bye that comes with it. Canyon del Oro and Catalina Foothills were part of that group along with Tucson, Sunnyside and Salpointe.

Five of the final eight teams were from Southern Arizona with Canyon del Oro, Tucson, Salpointe and Sunnyside advancing to the semifinal round and the Dorados went on to win the state championship over Tucson.

It will be a bit more difficult for Southern Arizona to pull that off again this year with only three teams currently ranked in the top eight heading into the final days of the regular season. Salpointe is ranked No. 1, Sunnyside is No. 6 and CDO is No. 8.

Ironwood Ridge is knocking at the door at No. 9 as are the Falcons at No. 12.

“The important thing for us is to keep winning and get to the state playoffs,” Catalina Foothills head coach Jim Baldwin said. “When you get to the playoffs no one really talks about what happened in the regular season especially when you get to the final eight. It’s all about who is left.”

The Falcons (16-9), as Baldwin pointed out, have been playing pretty well since mid-April with three straight wins including a 5-4 win over Ironwood Ridge on Wednesday. CDO lost to Salpointe 5-4  last week and then suffered another big section loss to Vista Grande on Wednesday. The Dorados will end their regular season on Tuesday at Ironwood Ridge.

That final game could be a high-stakes game for both teams as will the final game between Catalina Foothills and Marana Mountain View next Wednesday.

Michael Santorelli took the mound for Canyon del Oro and the junior held Catalina Foothills in check for most of the game despite giving up two unearned runs in the third and two earned runs in the fifth and a late run in the seventh.

Falcon sophomore Chris Kowalcek had the most success against Santorelli with a triple, double, two RBI and two runs scored and Dante DeNiro collected two hits and an RBI.

“Keeping the ball down was the key tonight,” Santorelli explained.  “All of their big hits came when I let a high one get away but I feel I did pretty well against a good team.”

Cole Altherr started the game off for the Falcons but the sophomore had a difficult outing while still recovering from appendix surgery. Jake Mathews, Chandler Thomas and Addison Ryberg all saw action for the Falcons.

CDO scored four in the first, two in the third, three more in the fourth and two in the sixth. It all came from a mixture of timely hitting, base running and a few defensive miscues. Mason Gavre went 2-3 with two RBI, Tyler Porter went 2-2 with two walks and two RBI and Mason Myhre went 2-3 with three RBI.

“We’ve been up and down this year,” Baldwin added. “But we’ve been playing some decent baseball lately. We need to win these last two games and get ready for the playoffs.”

Santorelli is also looking forward to the end of the regular season especially when that includes playing at rival Ironwood Ridge. “We need to try to stay on top for that game.” He added.

“We played sloppy at times today but we need to get to work to get it done on Tuesday.”