No. 9 Tucson defeated No. 10 Ironwood Ridge 10-0 Saturday night to advance to the Division II state championship game scheduled for Tuesday.  Jose Contreras (8-2) gave up only two hits while striking out five in the game shortened to five innings due to the run-rule.

The Badgers will face No. 5 Greenway in the championship game with the first pitch set for 4 p.m. at the Tempe Diablo Stadium. Fox Sports Arizona will telecast the game on tape delay while the NFHS Network will be streaming the game live at AZPreps365.com.

Jacob Federico went 3-for-3 with a double and two RBI and Kyle Rivera went 2-2 with an RBI but it was the bat of Martin Garcia that spoke the loudest. Garcia went 4-4 with two doubles and three RBI, including a walk-off single in the bottom of the fifth to seal the win.

“I was able to see the ball and finished high just like the coaches told me,” Garcia said. “We wanted the opportunity to get back to the championship. I’m proud of my teammates, we were locked in.”

Tucson (22-9) lost to Canyon del Oro in the Division II championship game last year and the Badgers are the only baseball team from any division to make it back to the final game this year.

Ironwood Ridge (23-9-2) matched the best finish in school history by taking third place. The 2013 squad also finished in third place.  That team was nationally ranked with players drafted by the MLB and/or set to play at the collegiate level so naturally, with 26 wins, a lot was expected from that team. It was the same expectation head coach Dennis Toia had at the beginning of this year.

“Our expectations were to compete for the championship,” Toia explained. “We beat Cienega at Chase Field and that gave us a boost because we had just lost two games in a row. Our ranking didn’t mean much, we fed off of that win.”

The Nighthawks went 9-2 from that point until Greenway sent them to the Elimination Bracket on Thursday. Ironwood Ridge proved to be much better than the seeding indicated.

The Badgers struck early with three runs in the bottom of the first inning and two more in the second. Christian Pearcy came in to replace Josh Darang in the second inning and he was able to hold the Badgers at bay until he gave way to Drew Hill in the decisive fifth inning where the Badgers scored four runs with one out leading up to Garcia’s game-winning single with two outs.

In all, the Badgers came up with 12 hits.

“Hats off to Oscar (Romero) and the Tucson boys,” Toia added. “I thanked my seniors for everything they did. This just wasn’t meant to be.”

Nick Estrella is one of those nine seniors Toia thanked after game. Estrella came over and handed Toia the game ball and thanked him for everything. It was an emotional moment that only a coach and player could understand.

Toia has 129 wins to his name. It might take a while, but he might someday reach the 457 wins collected by Romero since 1990.

With all those wins, the one he would cherish the most would be a state championship. Romero led the Badgers to the state final in 2002 and again last year.

As luck would have it, The Badgers have a state-leading record of 1,399-839-18.  Can number 1,400 bring magic?