#11 Red Mtn. SB tops #7 Basha

May 7, 2022 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


Red Mountain's Taylor Trowbridge pitches in the Mtn. Lions 4-1 victory over Basha. Trowbridge registered 11 strikeouts in her 4th postseason win of 2022. (Azpreps365 photo)

Red Mountain softball managed to remain unbeaten in the 6A state tournament on Saturday night and did so without a hit figuring in its scoring. The 11th-seeded Mountain Lions rode the complete-game pitching of Taylor Trowbridge again and four ways to plate runs in handing 7th-seeded Basha a 4-1 loss at the Fiesta Sports Complex in Mesa.

Red Mountain (25-8) is perfect in its half of the tournament bracket with three wins thus far. The others were 5-2 over #6 Perry and 7-1 over #3 Queen Creek. The Mountain Lions also had to win a play-in game on April 27 and did so with ease, 15-1 over Boulder Creek. Basha (20-10) remains alive and heads to the losers' bracket of the double-elimination tourney. The Bears next game is Tuesday at Queen Creek at 4 p.m.

Scoring in Saturday's contest didn't begin until the third when Red Mountain pushed across two runs with a passed ball and fielder's choice accounting for the scores. Ninth-place hitter Sophia Hutchison walked and leadoff hitter Kennedy Burns reached on a error. Hutchison scored on Paige Wright's fielders choice and Burns on the passed ball. The Mountain Lions had no hits in the inning.

A leadoff double by Nichole Armijo turned into the third run for Red Mountain in the fourth inning. Armijo moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Alixe DeAnda's sacrifice fly. Red Mountain tacked on its final run in the seventh. A leadoff triple by Burns and wild pitch with one out plated Burns.

Basha cut the lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning thanks to a two-out, RBI single by Mackenzie Manygoats. That was the lone run Trowbridge surrendered. The leadoff hitter in five of the seven innings reached base against Trowbridge, but she retired the next three hitters in four of the those five innings avoiding trouble. Her line for the night  - five hits allowed, one walk and 11 strikeouts. 

The other unbeaten team in the 6A tournament is defending champion #4-seed Xavier Prep. Xavier's Riley Flynn tossed a no-hitter in outdueling #1 Desert Vista's Jocelyn Briski, 3-0.