Shamrocks one win away from state baseball championship berth

Yuma Catholic survives and takes game one in the best of three series versus Northwest Christian 7-5 in 10 innings

GOODYEAR, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - The Northwest Christian Crusaders 25 game combined, regular season and postseason win streak was snapped earlier this year by the Yuma Catholic Shamrocks. It was an 11-1, five inning win for the Shamrocks in Yuma on March 1st.

"The loss we gave them was their first loss in three years," Yuma Catholic head baseball coach Judd Thrower said. "We understand that game was the abnormality, but, it also gives us the confidence to go out there and compete."

Northwest Christian is the defending back to back state champions in 3A. Standing in the Crusaders way to a third straight title is the Yuma Catholic Shamrocks, the lone team to take down the champs. The Shamrocks are making their third straight appearance in state, best-of-three game semi-finals. The Shamrocks are looking to return to the state championship game since 2012 and the program's first title since 2006. That was when Yuma Catholic played in 2A.

On Tuesday night at the Goodyear baseball complex, the Shamrocks jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Yuma Catholic held the lead until the bottom of the sixth when Northwest Christian tied the score at 5-5.

The game went into extra innings and perhaps the turning point came in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Crusaders had the winning run on second base with one out. Shamrock pitcher Ivan Guzman's pitch to Cole Muscari was driven to right center field and caught by Mickey Fox. The runner tried to tag from second to third but was gunned out by the Yuma Catholic lefty to end the inning.

"That was a big moment for us," Thrower said. "It really gave us a life."

The very next inning, the Shamrocks scored two runs and hung on for the 7-5 win, defeating the defending champions for the second time this year.

"Proud of the way our team battled for the win," Thrower said. "We faced a bunch of adversity throughout the game and made great plays for the win."

The win is nothing new for the Shamrocks, they've forced a game three in each of the past two state semi-final showdowns. Just last year, Yuma Catholic won game one of the series against Valley Christian before dropping the next two in a row.

Two years ago, versus ALA-Gilbert North, they lost, won then lost the deciding game three.

This year, the Shamrocks hope to break the trend.

"Our pitchers Hiram Silva and Ivan Guzman really pitched well in big spots," Thrower said. "Just amazing how they kept coming up clutch inning after inning."

With the Shamrocks in the driver's seat, coach Thrower could use his ace, left Mickey Fox in game two this Thursday.

"Not sure who we are pitching yet," Thrower said. "Mickey is a nice weapon to have in your pocket."

Game 2 is this Thursday at 6:00 p.m. at the Goodyear baseball complex. Game 3 if necessary would be played on Saturday evening.