D-I and II All-Star baseball games end in a tie

May 30, 2016 by Jose Garcia, AZPreps365


The 2015-16 Arizona high school baseball season continued to act as if it didn’t want to end.

A couple of uncustomary spring postseason showers delayed the action in the later rounds of the baseball postseason. During the Division I and II All-Star games Sunday, the season threatened to prolong itself once again.

The All-Star games is the only time Arizona high school players participate in nine-inning games, but even that wasn’t enough to determine a winner in the All-Star games at Goodyear Ballpark. Just when the fans thought the the baseball season was headed to extra innings, in steps the Arizona Baseball Coaches Association, which prohibits extra inning All-Star games.

The D-I and D-II North teams tried to walk off with victories but stranded the potential winning runs at third base. The North and South D-I teams had to settle for a 10-10 tie, and their D-II counterparts finished knotted at 2-2.

The North trailed 10-9 heading into the bottom of the seventh, when Sunnyslope’s Ryan Saltonstall walked to start the inning and eventually scored on Mountain Ridge’s Tristan Thomas’ bloop single to center field. The North then wound up loading the bases with just one out but failed to score again.

(Mountain Ridge's Tristan Thomas)

The D-II North’s Rhyse Dee (Paradise Valley) reached third base in the bottom of the ninth after a two-base error after his single to center field, but things then went south for the North, as it also stranded the game-winning run 90 feet from its destination. What the All-Star games were able to settle on were the MVP selections, the D-II South’s Aaron Makil of Westwood High and Thomas in D-I.

(Westwood's Aaron Makil)

Makil fouled off a handful of pitches before hitting an RBI single to center field, allowing the South to tie the North at 2-2 in the top of the 8th inning. Makil also struck out the side the in the one inning he pitched.

Thomas pitched a 1-2-3 inning and drove in two runs on two singles. Five of the D-I North All-Star team’s first six batters singled in the sixth inning, allowing the team to score five runs and jump ahead 9-4.

But the South answered with five runs of its own to start the seventh inning. An RBI double by Rincon’s Alfredo Villa and two two-run RBI singles by Vista Grande’s Paul Acevedo and Canyon del Oro’s Tristan Peterson brought home the South’s five runs.