The stakes were high for Sedona Red Rock High School’s softball team heading into the regular season finale against North Pointe Prep on Friday, April 30. The Scorpions had a spot in a state play-in game locked up but if that game was going to be played in Sedona, they needed a win. And while it wasn’t easy, that’s exactly what they got, prevailing 14-13 in extra innings.

Sedona went into the seventh inning with a 7-4 lead but the Falcons scratched three runs across to tie the game. When Sedona didn’t score in the bottom of the inning, the game went to extra innings — where the real action began.

As is the case in Major League Baseball, extra innings begin with a runner on second base. North Pointe took full advantage of that in the eighth, scoring three runs. Red Rock tied the game in the bottom of that inning when, with two runners on, Alyla Brooks delivered a hit to right field. When the ball got by the Falcons’ right fielder, Brooks sprinted around the bases and scored the tying run.

The ninth inning was similar, with North Pointe scoring three runs. With two outs, Sedona’s best hitter, Annabelle Cook, came up with two runners on. The game appeared over when Cook hit a pop-up in foul territory but the Falcons’ third baseman couldn’t bring it in, giving Cook and the Scorpions a reprieve. They took full advantage. First, Cook delivered an RBI single. Then, after stealing second base, Cook was driven in by Bella Horton to tie the game.

Brooks was the star of both halves of the tenth inning. In the top of the inning, she dug in as the pitcher, allowing a pop-up, striking out a hitter, then inducing a ground out to strand the free runner on the bases. In the bottom of the inning, she delivered a lead-off single. With that, Sedona’s free runner, Annalee Dearden, came sprinting around from second to score the winning run.

“I love this team,” Brooks said. “I was not planning on coming to this school. Annabelle convinced me to come and it’s changed my life. All the people, all the girls, everyone has made me a better person. The softball team, especially, is like my family right now. I love them and everything about this field.”

While the Scorpions defeated the Falcons by 11 runs just over one week before Friday’s game, they knew that this would be different. First, two Sedona starters were in quarantine. Then Dearden, the regular catcher and normal backup pitcher, sprained her ankle. While she could play, she couldn’t pitch or catch. That meant Horton — normally Sedona’s pitcher — had to move behind the plate to catch. Brooks then filled in for Horton at pitcher.

That represented something of a changing of the guard for the Scorpions, as well. Regardless of when this season ends, Sedona knows that it will be looking for a new pitcher next season, with Horton graduating this spring. Brooks — a freshman — is now the leading candidate to assume that role.

“She pitched so great,” Horton said. “And I’m so excited for her to take over my spot. I think she’s going to do so awesome in the next couple of years and I’m definitely going to come down to try to watch them.”

With the win, the Scorpions secured the No. 14 seed in the 2A rankings. That guaranteed that the play-in game would be at home. The play-in game was held on Tuesday, May 4 against Arizona Lutheran. Sedona was defeated in that game. For further details, read the Friday, May 7 edition of the Sedona Red Rock News.That was on Tuesday, May 4 against Arizona Lutheran. The results of that game were not available at press time but will be posted on the Sedona Red Rock News Facebook and Instagram pages and featured in the Friday, May 7 edition.

SRRHS baseball team also defeated North Pointe Prep on Friday, albeit in less dramatic fashion, winning 23-3. That moved the Scorpion boys into a play-in game of their own. That was on Monday, May 3 on the road against Kingman Academy. Sedona won that game 14-4 to reach the state tournament.

Beyond the win and what it meant for postseason positioning, Friday’s softball game was significant for one other reason. As it was her final regular season game, the Scorpions honored Horton with a Senior Night presentation when the game was over.

After the game, Horton expressed joy that her Senior Night was not only a win, but a close, dramatic victory.

“It’s meant a lot to be able to play softball since I’ve played it since I was 5,” she said. “Honestly, it’s nice to have a closing of four years of playing something. It’s great to be out here with my team and to have them celebrate me moving on from high school. And today was just a great game. I’m so happy that it was my senior night.”

“I’m glad because we’re not leaving her with losing her last game,” Brooks added. “Otherwise we’d all be crying because of the loss and Bella. And she was one of the reasons that we won that game. Being able to send her home with that win with that feeling in her last [regular season] game, as a catcher, which is not even her normal position, making her feel good about that win was awesome.”