Catalina Foohills won eight state titles and was runner-up in three other championships this past year to pace schools in Southern Arizona and the East Valley in athletic accomplishments.
Track, softball and baseball yielded six trophies to Chandler schools on the final weekend of the 2010-2011 prep athletic season.
Jordan Kipper was talking with his father not long ago about state championships.
His father, Bruce, the principal at Mountain Pointe High School, won one as a coach at Tempe High.,
Now Jordan has one to talk about, too.
With the pressure on as the game headed toward the late stages, defending 4A-I state champion Saguaro stepped up Saturday afternoon at Camelback Ranch Glendale Stadium.
Down two runs heading to the final three innings, the Sabercats gradually rallied to tie in the fifth and sixth and then put up a seven-spot in the seventh to take a 13-6 win over Sunrise Mountain and repeat as champs.
For Red Mountain to repeat as 5A-I softbal champs Friday, coach Rich Hamilton needed a strong performance from freshman pitcher Breanna Macha and better-than-normal defense.
He got both plus a big night from junior Siera Phillips with the bat.
It was the kind of ending every athlete dreams of, even the ones youi think are most capable of it.
And Lauren Haeger is capable.
Hamilton enjoyed a productive day offensively Thursda yafternoon in the 5A-I state baseball semifinals by denting the scoreboard for 13 runs.
That total should have been much less, much to the chagrin of Mesquite coach Jeff Holland.
It is known, perhaps trademarked now, as the Red Mountain Way.
In softball that means Red Mountain had to fight its way back through the 5A-I state tournament loser\\\'s bracket for the chance to play for the championship. For the fourth time in six years of the double-elimination format, Red Mountain won twice on semifinal Wednesday to advance to winner-take-all Friday.
Red Mountain had no trouble disposing of Mountain Ridge, by scoring 10 runs in the first two innings of its 5A-I elimination game. Gilbert High used a sixth-inning, two-out double to edge Salpointe.
The 5A-II Conference is entering its final week of existence and the Perry baseball team would like to etch its name in the six-year history of said conference.
As it was for swimming, cross country and wrestling, the 2011 state track and field championships will be contested at one site -- Mesa Community College.
Top-seed Mesquite is not too concerned right now with the way it wins, just as long the Wildcats continue to do so.
With a second matchup with No. 16 seed North Canyon in a week, Mesquite lived to play another day Saturday night with an 8-3 triumph over the Rattlers in a 5A-I state baseball tournament elimination contest at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
What was it going to be? Defending 5A-I baseball champ Desert Ridge continuing a long road back to try and defend its title? Or No. 14 Dobson continuing to live out that double-digit seed, state title dream?
On this Saturday afternoon the defending champs won out. Desert Ridge scored in every inning and tallied nine of its 12 runs with two outs to oust Dobson from the 5A-I state tournament with a 12-2, five-inning win at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
3336 articles by Les Willsey
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