While the high school softball season has yet to begin, Sedona Red Rock High School’s home field played host to some high level competitive softball recently.
The Northern Arizona University and University of California, Los Angeles club teams squared off for a triple-header in the morning and early afternoon on Saturday, Feb. 15.
NAU generally plays its home games away from its Flagstaff location during the early portion of the season. This year, Sedona was given the opportunity to host. It not only gave SRRHS a chance to raise money for the Scorpions’ team but also gave student players the opportunity to interact with college softball players.
“[NAU coach Tommy Hernandez] messaged me and said they usually play in Camp Verde this time of year because it’s too cold to play in Flag,” Sedona coach Bri Young said. “Camp Verde’s field is taken. He asked if they could use ours and we just jumped at the opportunity. It’s a good opportunity, especially for my shortstop [freshman Annabelle Cook] who’s a D-1 level softball player. She got to meet them. It’s a good opportunity for her.”
Young and the rest of the Scorpions initially thought that they had more time to prepare to host the games, as an early miscommunication led them to think that they’d actually be played the following Saturday.
But earlier in the week, the news came that the games were in fact on Feb. 15, leaving the Sedona players a mere two days to get the field ready. Given the short time, Young was thrilled with not only the number of people who came out to watch but also how well her team did in getting the field ready.
“This is awesome,” Young said. “These girls take charge. They’re all leaders out here. They put this together themselves. The girls got the field ready. They did the field maintenance last night. Filled in all the potholes. They were really excited to host this. They’re excited for the season, actually.”
Of course, the event was not just a fundraiser. It also featured three games between rivals of the Pacific – South Conference, which besides NAU and UCLA, includes Grand Canyon University, San Diego State, Cal State Fullerton, the University of Southern California and the University of California, Irvine.
The club team from UCLA [where the school’s official team is the defending NCAA champions] is a strong one, but the Lumberjacks were the better team on the field Saturday night. NAU got things going with a 7-5 victory in the opener. While UCLA responded with a 6-4 win in Game 2, the Lumberjacks bounced back and closed the day out with a 9-6 victory in Game 3.
Young said NAU was “by far the underdog” out of the two club teams going into the games. “[The clubs] have their own specific league for developing players, players who aren’t quite on the school team yet. Even UCLA’s club team is tough, so that’s awesome. For NAU to come beat them was fun to watch.”
Young also hopes that the enthusiasm generated from those games inspires people to come out and watch the Scorpions when their season gets underway.
“Softball is fun — come out and support us,” she said. “It’s good stuff.”
Sedona’s softball team is presently set to open its season at home against Trivium Prep on Wednesday, Feb. 26. Though, given the number of Scorpion softball players who also play basketball, that game would need to be rescheduled if the basketball team went on a deep postseason run.
