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

MESA, Ariz. – In a refreshing change of pace, the Warriors jumped out to an early lead and shut out the Kings, earning a mercy rule 10-0 victory on Saturday afternoon.

Westwood’s previous three games were all close, including Friday night’s dramatic late-inning comeback against Perry to earn the tie. That made Saturday’s blowout a welcome change.

“We just hit,” senior catcher Erik Ortiz said. “We played good defense; pitchers were on today. It’s been hard for our pitchers to locate their pitches, but today they were all on.”

On Friday night, the offense came alive in the bottom of the seventh inning. The team batted around, scoring five runs to force the tie in their last at-bat.

The lineup kept that momentum going right into Saturday’s game. The Warriors again batted around in the first inning, scoring six runs on six hits and two walks.

“The first time through the lineup we went all quality at-bats, all nine guys,” head coach JR Langston said. “There was only the one out and that was a hard line drive to left field. They all came with good attitudes, good approach.”

By the end of the second inning, each Warriors starter had reached base at least once. Ortiz and senior outfielders Michael Perez and Micah Rothenberger led the way with two hits each, the trio combining to drive in five of the team’s eventual 10 runs.

“It was like Perry on us last night, they put up a six-spot but we came back,” Ortiz said. “[Kofa] didn’t, and we just tacked on more runs.”

Senior Jose Apodaca, the hero Friday night for his game-tying single, started on the mound for Westwood. He threw two scoreless innings, and with a 10-run lead and Langston only planning on 20 pitches from the righty, his day was done.

By the fourth inning, a whole different team was on the field. Langston pulled most of his regular starters to give opportunities to some other players, a move he was planning on making even before his team scored 10 early.

These substitutions, including a few young pitchers, held Kofa scoreless for the rest of the game to secure the victory. One in particular caught Ortiz’s eye from behind the plate.

“That lefty,” he said. “I don’t know his name, but that lefty. He threw it well. That lefty really stood out.”

"That lefty" was sophomore Devin Begay, called up from the junior varsity squad for the game. He made his varsity debut in the top of the fourth inning, allowing only an infield hit in a scoreless frame.

“I was just locked into my command,” Begay said. “When I was warming up, I took a lot of warm-ups, so that really helped me. My pitching location, everything was on point.”

“He commands the mound,” Langtson said. “He didn’t play baseball last year, so we’re happy that he’s back. I don’t know where else he’s gonna play, but if he can pitch, I think it’s just about gaining more experience and facing better batters. And it’s gonna be tough, because we do have good guys up here. He’ll play on JV and hopefully he’ll get some good innings, and if we need him, we’ll go get him again.”

The win concludes the Adam Donnenfield Memorial Tournament. Westwood picked up three wins and a tie.

After their usual postgame field maintenance, the Warriors posed on the field for a few photos. Players slowly left the field, joking and laughing as they walked to the parking lot. A handful went to a nearby food truck they’d been eyeing since before the game.

They felt good after the win and a successful tournament overall. But Langston cautioned that, on Monday, it would be a tough practice – back to business as usual.

“There’s work to be done,” he said. “We have lists of things, some baserunning stuff we need to work on, our cuts and our relays, just defensive stuff that we need to work on. I mean, obviously there’s offensive things with a couple guys with their approach, guys that we think we’re gonna count on, that we need to get going.”

Westwood (3-0-1) plays its next game on Thursday when it hosts the Valley Vista Monsoon (2-1).