Walk-off victory: Coconino softball outlasts Salpointe Catholic in extra innings for 4A state crown

CROWNPOINT

It was their time.

After knocking at the door for the past few years, the Coconino Lady Panthers capped the 2025 season with the program’s first state crown.

In dramatic fashion, the top-seeded Panthers outlasted No. 2 seed Tucson Salpointe Catholic, 2-1, in a contest that went extra innings as the Panthers received the game-winning hit from junior Katelynn Yazzie in the bottom of the eighth in the Arizona Interscholastic Association 4A state championship game at Farrington Stadium on the Arizona State University campus on Saturday night.

“Katelynn Yazzie was the one who had the walk-off RBI,” Coconino coach Kimberly Dennis said. “And then, obviously, Kaitlyn Tso killed it again on the mound.”

Yazzie, who went 1-for-4, found the pitch she wanted to end Salpointe’s reign as the Lancers were seeking their seventh consecutive state title.

“Honestly, I wasn’t hitting that good the whole game,” Yazzie said. “I was 0-for-3 at the time and on the final pitch, I had two strikes, so I was gonna take a swing at anything close.”

Her fifth offering from Salpointe’s Maycee Jackson hit the middle of her bat as that swing capped a pitcher’s duel between Jackson and Tso.

“She’s a great pitcher and she did really good,” Tso said of her counterpart. “But it came down to whoever can last the longest inside the circle. I had my defense behind me, but after every inning I felt like I was getting stronger. I was staying consistent with my strikes, so I felt like I was dominating.”

Jackson pitched 7.1 innings and surrendered two runs on eight hits while sitting down seven Coconino batters.

Tso, meanwhile, gave up one run on four hits in eight innings of work. She retired 11 batters, ending her high school career with 1,111 strikeouts.

“It means a lot,” Tso said of surpassing the 1000-strike out plateau. “It’s a goal that I set my freshman year because I got 287 strikeouts that first year. Me and my dad (Dino) were talking, and we figured that if I averaged 250 a year, I could hit over 1000 my senior year.”

The Panther coach praised Tso’s development while adding that her innate pitching ability has made a big impact in Coco’s state title run.

“Kaitlyn is the root of our defense,” Dennis said. “She’s been with us for four years. She came into our program very talented but the maturity we’ve seen and the leadership she’s brought to the team has made a huge difference.”

The longtime Panther coach also praised her five other seniors in Sophie Monsman, Danica Kern, Destiny Villas, Mia Pozar and Aryanna Dominguez as they also had a starting role. Behind the six seniors, the Panthers finished the season on a 25-game winning streak, improving their overall record to 30-4.

“This is Coconino’s first state title, and they were runner-up in ’89,” Dennis said. “We knew we had a great chance of having this run with the leadership that we had with our six seniors.”

Still, the 30th and final win of the season, didn’t come easily as Coconino was tested in the eighth frame. In fact, Tso faced some adversity as the six-time defending state champs put some pressure on the Panthers’ ace pitcher.

The Lancer received a double from leadoff hitter Sarah Camp as her bomb sailed to the left warning track. The Salpointe catcher was then replaced by courtesy runner Soli Ramos.

Next-at-bat, Leylani Cuesta kept the rally going with a bunt that went over the head of Coconino third baseman Katelynn Yazzie to put runners on the corners.

Senior Molli Daley, a University of Arizona signee, then followed with an RBI double-play bunt that put Ramos home for a 1-0 Lancer lead. Tso then struck out sophomore Isabel Otero for the final out.

“We put ourselves in a tough situation when they put runners in the corner,” Tso said. “We just misread the ball, but she (Cuesta) put down a good bunt, and we just charged it too fast, so it was kind of a lucky hit.”

That 1-0 deficit was quickly erased in the bottom of the eighth as Coconino loaded the bases for the second time in the championship game. The Panthers tied the contest when Dominguez was hit by a pitch to set up Yazzie’s game-winning hit.

“We left the bases loaded in the first inning and we were challenged throughout the game,” the Coconino coach said. “We just had to be patient and wait for our opportunities.”

Saturday night’s walk-off win was the Coconino’s third in the playoffs. The Panthers started the tournament with a 3-0 win over No. 16 Deer Valley before outlasting ninth seed Eastmark (2-1) and No. 5 Sahuarita (3-2) with walk-off victories. In the semifinals, Coconino beat No. 14 Poston Butte 13-2 in five innings.

“We had a very tough path to go through, but these girls were resilient,” Dennis said.

Tso agreed while adding that their path happened for a reason.

“Maybe we were supposed to go through the playoffs with all these walk-offs,” she said. “It was tough, but I always felt that we had the bats, and we had the defense. We just needed to come together as a team.”

With her graduation set for Friday, Tso will be leaving Coconino program as the all-time strikeout leader. She will be taking her talents next season to Cal State University-Northridge where she will be studying kinesiology on a full-ride softball scholarship as a pitcher and utility player.

“I had eight offers, but I felt like I was just supposed to be there,” Tso said of her decision to play for the Matador softball team.

Incidentally, she was also offered scholarships from UNM and Arizona.

“I was looking to sign with UNM since my family is from New Mexico,” Tso said. “But the coach there wanted me to commit and sign right away, but there were other schools that I wanted to look into.”

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