Mountain View holds on for 6-3 win over Catalina Foothills
March 25, 2021 by Andy Morales, AZPreps365
The state softball tournament for the big schools in Arizona will be an exclusive event with only the top 16 teams from 4A to 6A invited. Region championships are great but the name of the game is to win and move on because region finish won’t get your ticket punched – every game becomes a playoff game and Mountain View Marana is keeping pace with a 4-1 record in the 5A Conference.
The Mountain Lions beat Catalina Foothills 6-3 Thursday night to remain one of the hopefuls when the first set of power rankings get released on April 8 but the season is long with plenty more obstacles in the way. Catalina Foothills dropped to 0-3 on the year with Salpointe (3-0), Empire (2-2) and Ironwood Ridge (4-1) on the horizon. Things won’t get an easier for the Falcons but it’s also an opportunity to turn things around for the very young squad.
Mountain View plated three runs in the bottom of the second inning after Nalani Cordova reached, Deborah Wallace singled and JoLynn Niegocki followed with a double to score both runners. Ysela Gradillas knocked in Niegocki on an infield hit for the third run.
The Mountain Lions added three more in the bottom half of the third after Makayla Morales walked, Kenzie Barney singled and Talia Martin knocked them both in one batter later. Martin would score later in the inning on a passed ball to make it 6-0.
The Falcons cut the Mountain View lead in half in the top of the sixth after Rylie Crane singled and Lauren Sizemore doubled her in. Molly Brunell brought in Sizemore two outs later and then Alli Wilt picked up an RBI but that was as close as the Falcons would get.
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Hailie Mann picked up the win for Mountain View and Lora Ormsby took the ball in the fifth. Mann collected 7 strikeouts. Madison Hairgrove got the start for the Falcons and Kyrie Denny took over in the fourth. Niegocki led Mountain View at the plate by going 2 for 2 with a double and two RBI. Crane went 2-4 with a double for the Falcons and Nicole Lane went 2-3 with a double.
Mann, a senior, will be playing for Ft. Lewis next year and she has 31 strikeouts in 26 innings of work. Crane committed to play for Wisconsin but the junior will have to wait one more year which is indicative of the youth of Catalina Foothills. The Falcons have a handful of seniors on their roster, including Great Britain Women’s National Team member Carys Lynch, but the starting lineup is dominated by youth.
(Kyrie Denny - Andy Morales/AZPreps365)
Hairgrove is only a freshman and Denny is a junior. Denny transferred over from Pusch Ridge over the summer and the Cornell commit is following in the footsteps of her grandfather John Denny Sr., who won the Cy Young in 1983 with the Philadelphia Phillies, and her father, John Denny Jr., who played football for Dick Tomey and baseball for Jerry Stitt at Arizona. Her mother, Lore Momaday Denny, played high school basketball at Catalina Foothills along with Lute Olson’s granddaughter Julie Brase Hairgrove. Coming full circle, Julie Hairgrove is the mother of Madison Hairgrove. Madison’s father, Mike Hairgrove played football with Denny at Arizona.
The Mountain Lions, on the other hand, have plenty of senior leadership in Mann, Niegocki (Ft. Lewis), Morales (Pima) and Barney (Central Arizona) and the team will need it this year. This is the first group of seniors to go through the program with current head coach Ramon De La Ossa and the hard work appears to be paying off.
The Falcons are led by head coach Mark Stevens who led the program to a state championship in 2016 and he has all the pieces in place to build a strong program including Lane, who is only a sophomore. The third baseman put down five batters to keep Catalina Foothills in the game.
