Sedona Red Rock High School stopped a three-game softball losing streak and continued its rise in the baseball rankings Tuesday, April 5.

Head baseball coach Craig Eagle’s team remains in the top 10 of the Arizona Interscholastic Association’s Division IV power rankings despite hanging on for the second straight game, 11-10, over Monument Valley High School.

Before returning home Saturday, April 9, for a non-sectional matchup against Paradise Honors High School, the Scorpions will battle Chinle High School on the road for the Section I lead at 3:45 p.m. Friday, April 8.

Traveling with them will be the softball team, which would return to a .500 record along with state playoff contention with a win over the Wildcats, the next team ahead of fifth-place SRRHS in the sectional standings.

For head coach Mike Keider, the game is the first in a three-game road swing that will wrap up Tuesday, April 12, at Chino Valley High School.

Baseball

Coming off an 11-10 home win over Northland Preparatory Academy behind a complete game from junior Randy Rodriguez, Eagle didn’t anticipate needing his staff ace the next game April 5, much less out of the bullpen.

“That was the roughest game he’s had,” Eagle said of the March 30 win. “Randy’s fastball is decent for his size, but he has a good curveball. When he’s on, he’s very difficult to hit.”

Down 10-9 in the bottom of the seventh inning, senior Justice Keane tripled in Rodriguez, who also had tripled to open the Scorpion seventh, to tie the game and set up sophomore Michael Ortega’s bizarre game-winning sacrifice fly.

Ortega had his second RBI, batting in Keane after senior Garrison Skornik and sophomore Wyatt Ross were intentionally walked.

“They did get him to pop out,” Eagle recalled. “But their catcher wasn’t covering home plate and gave Justice the opportunity to tag up.”

Senior Derrick Johnson had a triple, three stolen bases and two other hits April 5, batting in five runs.

The Scorpions [12-4] would need every single one of them against the Mustangs, as Eagle finally had to pull junior starter Dawson Barber after he gave up his eighth run with one out in the top of the fifth inning.

“Dawson showed promise in Payson, and I’m showing more trust in him,” Eagle said of his third starter’s 12-4 loss March 28. “He’s throwing strikes and doing better and better every week.”

Johnson, despite having calmed down his hard fastball of late, gave up another two runs as the Mustangs rallied from five down to take a 10-9 lead, giving way to Rodriguez in the seventh.

“I just put Randy in there to stop the bleeding,” Eagle said. “He shut down their [Nos.] 3, 4 and 5 hitters.

“Our defense came out and struggled with errors. That’s kind of been our M.O. lately. I’ve been trying to get the kids a little more focused in practice.”

Fortunately, Rodriguez struck out two of the three batters he faced and will be ready to start at fifth-ranked Chinle.

“I think Chinle is a very beatable team,” Eagle said of the 12-0 Wildcats, coming off a 3-2 win at St. Johns High School. “We run-ruled them, and they barely beat Monument Valley.”

But the Scorpions, who have left 22 runners on base in their last two games, will need to stop stranding their scoring opportunities.

“We had two bases-loaded chances and ran ourselves out of those innings,” Eagle said. “This is our last three-game week. If we focus, play our game, make our plays and keep hitting the way we’re hitting, we’ve got a good shot at winning out.”

Softball

Sophomore Ally Alver and senior Karen Giorgianni helped make it happen in their first section win April 5, combining to hit five for six and bat in four runs in a 7-4 win over the Mustangs.

“It feels great,” Keider said. “They’re a good team; we just came together and were real relaxed.”

Senior Emma Keider struck out six to win her third game, forcing a groundout and a pop-up to get out of a bases-loaded jam with one out in the seventh inning.

“Karen went to first instead of throwing home, which was fine,” Mike Keider said. “We didn’t get all shook up over our couple of errors. Yes, they contributed to one of our unearned runs, but our fielding was good.”

Sophomore Natalie Monge and freshman Kamila Doran also gave SRRHS [4-5] a boost, each going three for three at the plate and driving in two runs.

“Natalie’s bat came around, too,” Keider said. “Very hard line drives, and that’s what we needed. We were seeing the ball well.”

Keider anticipates a stiffer challenge from the road swing, in which all the games are at playoff-eligible teams.

“I would like to be able to take one of those tough teams,” he said. “Chinle, I think, is a little better hitting team than Monument Valley was.”

For more photos, please see the Friday, April 8, issue of the Sedona Red Rock News.