Joshua Iversen is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Westwood HIgh School for AZPreps365.com.

MESA, Ariz. – After trading blows for nearly three hours, the Warriors staged a five-run rally in the bottom of the seventh to end their Friday night game against the Titans in a 9-9 tie.

Westwood entered the bottom half of the inning trailing 9-4. But they batted around and senior third baseman Jose Apodaca served a line drive into right field to tie the game with two outs. Senior right fielder Brenton Dyer stepped to the plate with two on and a chance to win it, but he was called out on strikes to end the game.

“To be honest, a lot was going through my head,” Apodaca said. “But I zoned everyone out, I was in my zone, and I just came up clutch.”

Dyer started the rally, getting hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. Senior left fielder Micah Rothenberger, who ended the top half of the frame by throwing out a runner at home plate, reached on a dropped third strike.

Junior catcher Jesus Valencia capitalized, smacking a sharp grounder just inside the third base line for an RBI double. That’s when he knew his team could come back.

“We thought we had a chance now,” he said. “We got the heart of our order coming up, so we knew we were gonna drive in some runs and make it a good game at the end.”

The next batter reached, and then senior shortstop Crew Parke drove in another with a line drive single to center. After a strikeout, a bases-loaded walk forced in a third run, and an RBI fielder’s choice set the stage for Apodaca’s two-out, game-tying swing.

The Warriors trailed for most of the game, their third in the Adam Donnenfield Memorial Tournament. Junior starting pitcher Kenyon Antone retired the first batter he faced, but then walked the next two before allowing a three-run home run to senior Perry third baseman Trevor Desidiero. After walking the next batter, he was pulled.

“Poor Kenyon, you know, my heart goes out to him because he wants so badly to help us out, but he struggled,” head coach JR Langston said. “Right in the first, not being able to throw strikes, and then you do throw a strike and it leaves the park.”

Langston was impressed with his next two pitchers, sophomores Nick Cortez and Brandon Sanchez. While neither figure to be regular options for the Warriors, they held a strong Perry offense to six runs the rest of the way.

The Pumas were very aggressive on the basepaths, stealing nine bags and often advancing on throws from the outfield. Valencia said that caught him off guard.

“Right out of the gates they were stealing bags, first, second inning,” he said. “I kind of had to adjust my throws a little bit, try to get runners out, but their running game was just unbelievable. They had a good running game today. Props to them.”

According to Langston, both Valencia and regular starting catcher Erik Ortiz are nursing sore arms. Ortiz, a senior, was the designated hitter on Friday night, but he’ll start behind the plate on Saturday to give Valencia some rest.

After falling behind 6-0, Westwood scored its first four runs in the third inning off Perry starter Justin Still. The junior retired the first six batters he faced, but the top four hitters in the Warriors lineup each drove in a run to knock him out of the game.

Langston is a bit concerned that his team’s scoring was limited to only two innings, but he has plans that could help that change going forward.

“We’ll do some different things offensively,” he said. “We weren’t really working for a run today, we were more just swinging. So we didn’t really hit-and-run, we weren’t bunting. I think we can get our running game going a little bit, too.”

After their comeback, the players were fired up. Apodaca said the tie felt “like a win,” and Valencia agreed.

Langston doesn’t know if he’d go that far, but he likes what he’s seeing from this team in the early going.

“They never really panicked,” he said. “There was no feeling of dread. They do like to have fun and that’s kind of our motto this year: Work hard, have fun. And they know how to have fun. We just need to know how to work hard, too.”

Westwood (2-0-1) will look to close out the tournament with another win on Saturday morning as they take on the visiting Kofa Kings (0-3) at 11 a.m.