Shelby Thompson picked up the win for Ironwood Ridge (Andy Morales/AZPreps365.com)

 

No. 5 Ironwood Ridge outlasted No. 2 Cienega 7-6 at home on Tuesday and it proved to be everything a fan of the game could want from the home stretch of the 5A Conference.

Cienega (10-1 in power-ranking games, 3-1 in the 5A Southern Region) won the 5A state championship last year and Ironwood Ridge (10-0, 4-0) took home a state title the year before. It was an easy choice for the game of the night.

The Bobcats jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first thanks to four hits, an RBI single from Payton McLaughlin and an RBI fielder’s choice RBI from Jovanna Herrera. Only a sophomore, Shelby Thompson collected herself in the circle for Ironwood Ridge and limited the Bobcats to two hits from there to the fifth inning.

Meanwhile, Ironwood Ridge scored three in the second, two in the third and another in the fourth to flip momentum. Back-to-back infield miscues set the table for RBIs from Kiera Painter and Izzy Pacho in the second inning and RBIs from Maddie Judge and Morgan Reidhead made the score 5-2 and then a solo blast from Pacho made it 6-2 after four.

Pacho is a University of Arizona commit who looks and acts like she is more than ready for the next level, so much so, the standout will enroll in the summer to take advantage of early college workouts. Still, Pacho is fully concentrated on what needs to be done this year.

“We aren’t a group of individuals this year,” Pacho said. “Win or lose, we are in this for each other.”

As for her towering shot, “I wasn’t expecting them to pitch to me, so I decided I was going to hit it no matter what.”

The Bobcats started to come back in the top of the fifth thanks to a two-run double from freshman standout Breezy Hayward. Hayward has already made visits to several Pac-12 programs including a spot in Oregon’s elite recruiting camp over the summer and she showed why thanks to a 4-for-4 performance against Ironwood Ridge, with a double and three RBI thrown in.

“I was nervous playing as a freshman at first,” Hayward said. “But I know I’m a good player and I can help my team. I try not to let pitchers get ahead of me by looking at strikes. My team needs me to hit.”

Hayward came through again in the top of the seventh after Kayla Keith hit a mishandled sacrifice fly to score Jaiden Reid in the bottom of the sixth to put Ironwood Ridge up 7-4. Reid reached on a triple set Keith up. That extra run proved to be the difference.

Down by three runs, Kaitlyn Anderson doubled with one out to get the Bobcats going. Hayward knocked her in one out later and McLaughlin doubled to bring in Hayward. The Bobcats had the tying run at second, but Keith threw a runner out at third to preserve 7-6 win for Ironwood Ridge.

Thompson went the distance for Ironwood Ridge, Lia Dominguez got the start for Cienega and Mariah Lopez took the over in the fourth. From the top, Mississippi commit Blaise Biringer went 2-4 for Cienega, Kaitlyn Anderson went 3-4 with a double and McLaughlin went 2-3 with a double and two RBI to compliment the hitting from Hayward.

Morgan Reidhead went 2-4 with an RBI for Ironwood Ridge, Painter went 2-4 with an RBI, Pacho finished 2-4 with a home run and two RBI, Reid went 2-4 with a triple, Keith went 2-4 with an RBI, Emma Almodoba went 2-4 and Judge had an RBI single. Diana Nisbett was hit-by-pitch twice. The junior standout played for Great Britain last summer at the European Cadette Championship held in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

The two teams will meet again on April 17 for what might be the region crown.