After rattling off four straight victories to earn a home play-in game, clinching a playoff berth in an elimination game and winning four consecutive playoff games against higher-seeded opponents, the Flagstaff Eagles came up shy of a 4A Conference title.
A rough opening inning in Monday's 4A Conference state tournament championship game put the No. 14 Eagles in an early hole against the top-seeded Salpointe Catholic Lancers. The Lancers parlayed a five-run first inning into an 8-0 victory at Tempe Diablo Stadium, ending the Eagles' nine-game winning streak, which began more than a month ago.
"We told them that they worked their butts off this year," said Eagles manager Kenny Macias as he held the runner-up trophy. "They went through a lot. They've worked in bad conditions, bad weather, coming down here traveling a lot, going through Susan's passing. Just a lot of things. They deserve (the 4A Conference runner-up trophy), even though it's bittersweet."
Eagles assistant coach Ed Vesely's wife Susan died in February, just weeks before the season began, with the team dedicating its season to her.
After opening the regular season with a 7-2 record, the Eagles dropped three straight games just before the magic truly began. A 7-4 victory against ALA Queen Creek, ranked No. 3 in the conference at the time, preceded a split with Grand Canyon Region rival Prescott when Flagstaff lost for the final time, on April 15, before Monday's title game.
A sweep of crosstown rival Coconino, a 15-0 victory in the regular-season finale against Barry Goldwater and a win on their home field against Douglas in the 4A play-in game put the Eagles into the bracket as the 14th seed. After eliminating No. 3 Prescott to begin the playoffs, Flagstaff rallied from a three-run deficit to beat No. 11 Deer Valley in eight innings before knocking out No. 10 Saguaro -- which ended the Eagles' season a year ago -- with a pair of wins against the Sabercats.
"They worked their tails off," Macias said. "Right now they are a little upset, but I think they're going to remember this for the rest of their lives."
Playing in Tempe Diablo Stadium for the third time in 13 days, Flagstaff finally faced the unfamiliar circumstance of playing under lights.
Unable to use lights at their home field, the Eagles typically begin games around 4 p.m. and had just one regular-season contest begin at 7 p.m. or later this season, while the other two games at Tempe Diablo in the past two weeks began at 4 p.m.
Macias said the team practiced at Coconino High School during the week to utilize the school's lights in order to regain some familiarity.
"Twilight's tough. We're just not used to it, but it's not an excuse," Macias said.
Salpointe Catholic put five balls into the air in the outfield in the first inning, with all five batters reaching base safely.Â
With one on and one out, senior pitcher Connor Iniguez's first pitch to Salpointe Catholic's Colton Raetzman got lost in the air and rolled to the wall. Raetzman himself came around to score on the play, giving the Lancers an early 2-0 lead. An opposite-field fly ball to right field by Izaiah Moraga fell in for a double, and he scored two batters later on a two-out single to left field. Another opposite-field double and another ball lost in the lights brought home two more runs for the Lancers, who sent nine batters to the plate with Iniguez needing 25 pitches to end the inning.
The Lancers tacked on one more run in the second inning, with a leadoff single coming around to score following a stolen base, passed ball and a balk. The single to left by Salpointe Catholic's Adan Koch Rodriguez wound up as the final hit allowed by Iniguez to leave the infield.
A one-out bunt single and a hit batter put two on with two out in the bottom of the third, but a Flagstaff error on a bunt by Salpointe Catholic's Johnny Abramian brought both runners in to score for the 8-0 lead.
Though Flagstaff's offense struggled to get on the board -- with junior Will Carpenter breaking up a no-hitter in the fourth on an infield single and junior Christian Welker singling in the sixth to account for the Eagles' two hits -- Iniguez effectively silenced the Lancers' offense in the second half of the game.
Needing 11 pitches apiece for 1-2-3 innings in both the fourth and fifth, Iniguez retired 10 of the final 11 batters he faced in the game with three strikeouts during the stretch. Only a two-out walk in the sixth spoiled what was nearly a perfect final three innings of his Flagstaff career, and the runner was left stranded on first base two pitches later.
"As he progresses through the game, he starts to dominate," said Macias, adding that Iniguez's mid-game strength means he might benefit from a more intense pregame warmup. "I'll have that talk with him before he goes on to college, because he needs to be ready to rock when he gets on the mound."
Finishing with two earned runs allowed in six innings, Iniguez struck out five with one walk and one hit batter.
Salpointe Catholic's starter Lucas Shannon allowed two hits and no walks while striking out eight in his seven innings. The Eagles had just one runner reach second base, with Carpenter stealing second in the fourth inning following his single.