Rokzoo entered the final in the City of Sedona’s 2019 Adult Summer Softball League against A Day in the West looking to win a league championship and possibly secure a perfect season in the process. In the end, they did just that.
Top-seeded Rokzoo got a good fight from A Day in the West. In the end, though, Rokzoo prevailed 7-5 to earn the championship and the perfect season.
“I can’t say enough about how great the team is in the dugout,” Rokzoo coach Marty White said. “They all get along. They’re all fun. That makes it worth coming out.”
Rokzoo had the advantage of being the winner’s bracket champion. With that, A Day in the West needed to beat Rokzoo twice to claim the championship, while Rokzoo needed only one victory. This was because of Rokzoo’s win over A Day in the West earlier in the playoffs, which sent A Day in the West to the loser’s bracket. Rokzoo prevailed 9-7 in the previous postseason matchup despite falling behind 5-0 early. In the championship round, the roles were nearly reversed.
Rokzoo struck first when Taylor Mathews launched a two-run homer to get the scoring going in the second. Two innings later, they appeared to break it open with a four-run rally to go up 6-0 as the game headed into the fifth. A Day in the West wouldn’t go down quietly. They loaded the bases with nobody out in the fifth. After turning a double play, it looked as though Rokzoo would escape with minimal damage, allowing only one run. Instead, A Day in the West staged a two-out rally. When the inning was over, they had cut the deficit to 6-5.
That was as close as they’d get. Rokzoo ended up adding an insurance run in the bottom-of-the sixth to take a 7-5 lead, which held up.
“We started kind of slow,” A Day in the West coach Pedro Ortega said. “We were a little bit sluggish. It took a little while to get going. Finally we did, but it wasn’t enough. But they played well; it was a good season.”
An interesting twist on this final is that despite winning three postseason games, A Day in the West was the only opponent that Rokzoo had to beat in the playoffs — at least on the field.
After a first-round bye, Rokzoo’s second-round victory over A Day in the West put them into a winner’s bracket final against Slapnut Magoos on Thursday, Aug. 8. Unfortunately, Slapnut Magoos ended up needing to forfeit that game, giving Rokzoo a default 7-0 win and a place in the finals.
Including the forfeited win, Rokzoo finished the regular season and playoffs at 15-0.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had an undefeated season, but this is a good team with good players,” White said, “I look forward to doing it again next year. I’m happy that Sedona puts this on and gives us the opportunity to play here.”
Michael Dixon can be reached at 282-7795, ext. 131 or email to mdixon@larsonnewspapers.com
