With the baseball and softball playoffs underway, a number of Speed School athletes and their teams are looking to make deep postseason runs.
At the 3A level, Tanque Verde senior Rocco Haggard was the winning pitcher – and added a home run of his own at the plate – in helping lead his Hawks team (Speed School athletes Brennon Barnhart, Ryan Ashcraft, Corbin Lyski, and Jack Elmerick) to a first-round win over Empire. Not to be outdone, younger sister Ella Haggard led off the 4th inning of her first-round game with a double and would later score in a 2-0 win to send her Tanque Verde team (Speed School athletes Cassidy Jones, Julia Pratt, Lizzy Pratt, Shea Reilly) to the quarterfinals and a much-anticipated matchup with rival Empire.
At the 5A level, Speed School athlete Isaac Kirkendall and his Catalina Foothills (Aidan Brown, Easton Altherr) team are now in the third round following convincing 7-0 and 9-2 wins to start the playoffs. Kirkendall struck out three and limited Nogales to one hit in the second round.
The Salpointe girls’ team, always a powerhouse at the 4A level with Speed School athletes Cierra Aguilar, Peaches Sztan, Addi Wild, Taylor Basken, and Lexi Corella), won in fast fashion with a 10-0 run rule victory in five innings, advancing to the third round on Saturday. On the opposing side of the 4A bracket, sophomore Caeli Shellenbarger – currently 4th in RBI on the season – and her Mica Mountain team have advanced with a 7-2 win.
Finally, #2 Salpointe (Anthony Milo, Cosimo Milo, Jude Huether) suffered a second-round loss in the 4A bracket, but quickly rebounded to advance in the losers’ bracket with a 15-4 win in 5 innings. The Lancers now face ALA-Gilbert on Saturday in an elimination game.
(Photo credits: Andy Morales, AllSportsTucson)
