The 5A-I South baseball all-stars carved out a 9-2 victory over the North on Friday night with pitching and defense throughout and offense late providing the impetus at Surprise Stadium.

The North matched South pitching most of the way, but four errors and a passed ball figured in seven of nine South runs being unearned. The South did not commit an error.

Mesa Mountain View left-hander  Hayden Rodgers, the first of seven South pitchers, threw two perfect innings to open the game and barely broke a sweat in retiring all six hitters he faced. Rodgers fanned three. He left with a 1-0 lead, but did not figure in the decision. His work on the mound still earned him game most-valuable-player honors.

Rodgers, Mountain View's top pitcher each of the last three seasons, missed nearly five weeks of this past season. Rodgers lost  time due to a broken, non-throwing hand in March sustained diving for a ball against Corona del Sol while playing right field. Rodgers returned in late April and earned the Toros only 2011 playoff win, shutting down Highland.

"He came to Casa Grande (for practice) and said 'Coach, I still can't hit.'," South coach Jeff Holland (Mesquite)  said. "I told him that's OK. We'll DH for you. Just be ready to pitch. He's a great kid and did a great job. I'm happy for him he was chosen MVP."

Gilbert's Stephen Tarpley, Desert Ridge's Scott Hoffman, Highland's Nolan Whittlesey, Desert Ridge's Dylan Barrett, Mesquite's Zach Davies and Mountain Pointe's Kevin Cron followed Rodgers to the mound. They combined on a three-hitter. The only negative from their effort -- seven walks. Oddly enough the pitcher with the worst line of the group -- Whittlesey -- was the winning pitcher.

With South pitching racking up 13 strikeouts, its defense didn't have to do much, but did when called upon. South right fielder Josh Villanueva (Westwood) made a pair of nice catches. The first, a sliding grab after a long run in and toward the line robbed Cesar Chavez's Mike Sordia of a hit. Villanueva took a hit away from Kofa's Hector Valenzuela iun the fifth by ranging far to his left to snare a line drive at the foul-line with two out and two on base. That catch preserved a 1-0 lead. Villanueva helped out with his bat in the bottom of the inning, making it 2-0 with an RBI single.

Whittlesey, the fourth pitcher of the night for the South, pitched the sixth inning. To that point the North was hitless. Whittlesey issued a walk, the North's first hit (a single by Desert Vista's Casey Thomas), threw a wild pitch and yielded a two-run single to Chandler's Kevin Carr that quickly tied the game at 2. Whittlesey got out of the jam inducing a double-play ball turned by Salpointe shortstop Joe Serrano.

The South got the lead back for good (3-2) in the bottom of the sixth using Trevor Browne's Carlos Lizarraga's bobble of a double by Gilbert High's Drew Stankiewicz  allowing Mesquite's Lane Doty to score rather than be held at third. Catcher's interference by the North led to another run in the seventh.

The South cemented the outcome scoring five runs in the eighth on five hits off Red Mountain's Forrest Hendershot. Two-run homers by Barrett and Gilbert High's Nathaniel Causey were the key hits. Barrett's homer came a few pitches after a foul pop up behind the plate was dropped.

It was a productive night for Gilbert area players at the plate. Players from Gilbert High, Desert Ridge, Highland and Mesquite combined for eight of the South's 12 hits and scored seven of its nine runs. Barrett, Davis and Stankiewicz had two hits apiece.

 

  

.