Catalina Foothills keeps high ranking with win over Marana

April 25, 2022 by Andy Morales, AZPreps365


Kyrie Denny. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

Catalina Foothills held off Marana 7-4 Monday night to solidify an unblemished record in the 5A Sonoran Region at 10-0 and a guaranteed home game in the first of the state playoffs on Saturday. The Falcons are now 16-2 in power-ranking games and the team came into Senior Night ranked No. 3 in 5A action which would put the program in the bottom half of the bracket with a favorable shot to the second round where double-elimination begins.

No. 15 Marana is 11-6 in ranking games and the team is hoping a loss to Catalina Foothills will still secure a home game in the 5A Play-In Tournament slated for Wednesday, April 27. Teams ranked 9-24 will take part in the one-day tournament to decide the 9-16 seeds for the state tournament.

Catalina Foothills senior pitcher Kyrie Denny picked up the win over Marana and she collected 12 strikeouts in the process to move the Cornell commit to 133 on the year. The granddaughter of 1983 Cy Young winner John Denny (Phillies), Denny is poised to help lead her team to a playoff run along with sophomore pitcher Madison Hairgrove, who is the great granddaughter of Lute Olson.

Catalina Foothills took a 5-1 lead in the third inning and that lead was fueled by a 2-run shot from Samantha Dougherty but the Tigers battled back with three runs in the top of the fifth to cut the lead down to 5-4. Dougherty put the game out of reach in the bottom half on the fifth on another 2-run blast. Denny, Nicole Lane and Rylie Crane had doubles in the game for the Falcons.

The Tigers had plenty of firepower in the game with sophomore McKenna Giles going 3 for 3 with a double and two RBI, freshman Ella Joplin going 2-4 with a double, senior Madelynn Mankee going 2-4 with an RBI and junior Brianna Wunderle picking up a double. Sophomore Kaitlyn Hudson and Wunderle saw action in the circle.

The 4A-6A Play-In Tournaments for softball and baseball are all scheduled for Wednesday. The softball and baseball Bracket Show is scheduled for Thursday, April 28 at 11 a.m.

Samantha Dougherty hit two 2-run home runs for Catalina Foothills. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)