Most of Sedona Red Rock High School’s spring sports teams have been on the road since the first week of March.
No team played during spring break, from March 12 to 19, with just boys and girls tennis playing since.
Tennis
The boys tennis team improved to 4-1 this season, and is 1-0 in Division III, Section VI play, with an 8-1 win at Page High School on Friday, March 23. Before that, the Scorpions, ranked No. 14 in the Arizona Interscholastic Association’s Division III poll on Monday, March 26, beat Valley Lutheran High School 9-0 on March 20 and also won on the road at Kingman High School 8-1 on March 9.
Its lone loss came to No. 8-ranked Northland Preparatory Academy by an 8-1 score.
The girls tennis team is 3-3 overall and 0-1 in section play. All three wins have come in consecutive fashion, most recently defeating Page 6-3. While Page is in the team’s section, the match did not count towards the Scorpions’ section record.
Red Rock’s girls, currently ranked No. 23, also beat Valley Lutheran [6-3] and Kingman [8-1]. Their losses came in the season opener to BASIS Flagstaff [6-3] in the only section match thus far. They also lost to No. 8 Northland Prep [6-3] and No. 13 Northwest Christian High School [9-0].
Both teams played at Anthem Preparatory Academy on Tuesday, March 27, but results were unavailable at press time. They play again at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, March 29, at Scottsdale Christian Academy.
Baseball
After a 15-day break, the baseball team [2-4] resumed play at Chino Valley High School [5-2, 2-0 3A West Region] on Saturday, March 24, losing 14-4 in six innings.
Red Rock sophomore Michael Lagorio got the start on the mound, giving up nine earned runs on 16 hits with six strikeouts and one walk to record the loss. Senior Javi Pacheco recorded the final out with a strikeout, but not before giving up one hit, two earned runs and one walk.
Scorpions senior shortstop Michael Ortega led offensively with two hits and three RBI, all on a first-inning home run, and one base on balls. Red Rock’s 3-0 lead was cut to 3-2 after the first, and the Cougars took the lead for good after the second inning.
A five-run third inning gave Chino Valley a 9-3 lead and would not look back. The game ended on a sacrifice fly that gave it the necessary 10-run lead for a mercy rule victory. The win extended Chino Valley’s power-point game winning streak to three games.
It was the final tuneup game before beginning Central Region play for the Scorpions. They host Verde Valley rival Camp Verde High School at 4 p.m. Thursday, March 29.
Camp Verde enters the game on a two-game losing streak.
Softball
The Red Rock softball team [1-2] went 16 days without playing, and also took to the field again at Chino Valley [6-2, 1-1 3A West Region], losing 16-6 in five innings.
Junior Kamila Doran went three for four batting, including a double, with one run scored and a team-best three RBI. One of senior pitcher Natalie Monge’s three hits was a solo home run. Monge also had two stolen bases.
The Cougars outhit the Scorpions 14 to eight.
Like the baseball team, the Scorpions also scored three runs in the first inning. The Cougars also trimmed the score to 3-2 after the home half of the first. Chino Valley took the lead with two more runs in the second inning, then blew the game open with a nine-run third inning.
Red Rock scored its final three runs in the fourth frame.
The team opened region play with a game against Mingus Mountain Academy on Tuesday, March 27, but results were unavailable at press time. It also plays Camp Verde on March 29, with the first pitch set for 3:45 p.m.
