Tanque Verde ends Winslow’s season in first round

WINSLOW – A two-out, four run rally by Tanque Verde in the fifth inning broke a 3-3 tie and put Winslow in a hole which it could not escape.

The sixth-seeded Lady Bulldogs allowed four runs to the visiting Hawks in that frame as No. 11 Tanque Verde pulled off a mild upset in the first round of the 3A state playoffs with a 7-4 win on a windy Saturday afternoon.

The teams entered the top of the fifth tied at 3-3, but Tanque Verde took advantage of two Winslow errors in said inning with all the errors coming with two outs.

“Things didn’t go our way,” Winslow coach Quentin Hayes said. “We had a few errors that extended the inning. I told the girls when you get to the playoffs you have to minimize your mistakes.

“We’ve always preached that you have to do the little things right,” he added. “Those are the things that win ball games, especially in the playoffs, like catching the ball at first base, hitting our cutoffs in the outfield and executing our bunts when we need to move runners. Unfortunately, those are things that we didn’t do very well today, so we didn’t have a lot of success, which didn’t help us in the scorebook.”

The Bulldogs retired the first two Hawks batters to start the fifth. Then Tanque Verde found some new life from its stagnant offense at the top of the lineup.

Leadoff hitter Emily Ryan started the rally with a line drive single to left field, then took second on a throwing error.

Pitcher Claire Achilles then hit an RBI single to center field that scored Ryan. Lizzy Pratt reached base thanks to a misplayed ball at first as Achilles scored another run.

Shortstop Sara Hoagland continued the rally with a hit to center field with Pratt plating a run. Freshman Gabby Fukunaga capped the rally with an RBI single that earned the Hawks a 7-3 cushion.

Winslow got one of those runs back in the bottom of the sixth behind three hits. Leadoff hitter Lianya Brown opened the frame with a single. Two batters later shortstop Brinleigh Arredondo hit a hard ground ball to center that scored Brown.

Another single from outfielder Jauslynn Nells put two Winslow runners on, but Tanque Verde relief pitcher Claire Achilles retired the next two batters to end that threat.

One of those outs was a deep hit to right field that Ryan caught.

“Our strength all year was our long ball with home runs,” Hayes said. “But with the wind blowing in nothing was gonna go out. We had some hard-hit balls, but they happened to catch them.

“The ball got caught in the wind,” he added.

The Bulldogs also had to contend with Achilles, who returned to the Tanque Verde pitching lineup for the first time this season after being sidelined with an injury.

“This was her first game back,” Hayes said of the Tanque Verde pitcher. “We didn’t prepare for her at all. The scouting report that we did was on their first pitcher (Sara Hoagland). We prepared for her and we believed that she was their ace the whole year.”

The Hawks started the game with Fukunaga, who gave up three earned runs in the first frame as Winslow wiped away a 3-0 deficit.

Fukunaga pitched two innings before Achilles took over in the third inning.

“When (Achilles) first came in her velocity was a lot different from the first pitcher,” Hayes said. “We just didn’t adjust.”

Winslow finished the game with seven hits with Arredondo going 2-for-3 at the plate as the shortstop drove in two runs for the Bulldogs.

“This is not the way I wanted to end my senior year, but we had a tremendous season,” said Arredondo, who sat out last season due to an ACL injury in her right knee.

“I was a bit nervous coming back because I’ve never really played with these girls,” said Arredondo, who was tabbed the 3A East Region Offensive Player of the Year. “All the girls that I played with had graduated and it kind of felt like I was joining a new team.

“But after our first tournament, we built some great chemistry on and off the field,” she added. “We all came together as a family.”

Winslow finished the season at 19-12 overall and second in the 3A East behind Snowflake although both squads finished with identical 9-1 records in region play.

Per Arizona Interscholastic Association rules, Snowflake was given the region title based on the final AIA statewide rankings with Snowflake garnering third and Winslow fifth.

“We finished strong in the conference,” Hayes said. “We had lost to (Snowflake) earlier in the year, but we made some adjustments and we tied the series.”

With eight seniors set to graduate later this month, Hayes must replace his entire infield next season.

“We wanted to end the season strong with our seniors,” the second-year coach said. “They’ve been a great group; they showed great leadership and they have been an amazing group to coach.

“We’re losing a lot, but we got a lot of kids returning next year,” he added. “There is no reason I believe that we can’t compete for another region title. We’re gonna work hard in the offseason and hopefully we can get a little further in the playoffs.”

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