It took nine innings, but No. 5 Canyon del Oro figured out a way to defeat No. 8 Bradshaw Mountain 6-5 after the Bears clawed back from an early deficit to take a lead that lasted until the bottom of the seventh. Seven innings is regulation in high school baseball but the fans at Tempe Diablo Stadium were treated to what is usually played in the MLB Spring Training facility Wednesday night and the stakes were almost as high.

Coming out of the Elimination Bracket, Bradshaw Mountain (25-6) needed to beat Canyon del Oro (20-10) to force an “if game” on Thursday night but the Dorados are now the last unbeaten team in the 4A Conference with No. 2 Saguaro beating No. 3 Sahuarita 9-1 in the other semifinal game to force the “if game” on that side of the bracket with Saguaro (25-8) coming out of the Elimination Bracket to give Sahuarita (24-6) a loss. That game will be played Thursday night at 6 p.m. for a shot at Canyon del Oro in the state championship game, slated for Monday night, May 15.

The Dorados had several chances to end the game earlier but the Bears were able to induce a fly ball or collect a double play to get out of multiple jams but the Dorados worked the bases full in the bottom of the ninth to present a different kind of challenge for the Bear defense. Sam Martinez led the bottom of the inning off with a single and then Adrien Marquez followed with another single to put two on with no outs. Jackson Kokoskie picked up a sacrifice bunt to move the runners over but he reached on an error to load the bases for Chris Humphreys. Humphreys came through with a fly ball to left field and his sacrifice was deep enough to score Martinez for the win.

Nate Ramirez got the start for the Bears and he held firm despite giving up a run in the bottom of the first and the second to fall back 2-0. Michael Jones doubled in Lucas Casey with two outs in the first inning and Martinez tripled to lead off the second and Marquez brought him in for the 2-0 lead. The Bears tied the game up in the top of the third with Casey on the mound after Vinny Magdaleno singled in Shane Lievsay and Wes Collier with no outs. The Bears went on to load the bases with no outs and Garison Jones delivered a sacrifice fly to score Magdeleno. Casey picked up a strikeout to limit the damage and then Josh Khazaal tried to take home from third on a passed ball but the ball didn’t get too far away from Ernie Alvarez and Alvarez applied the tag to end the inning.

Canyon del Oro loaded the bases in the bottom of the third with one out but Ramirez got a double play to end that threat. Dalton Irwin led off the top of the fourth with a triple and Lievsay put Bradshaw Mountain up 4-2 on a sacrifice fly. The Dorados cut the lead down to 4-3 in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI from Jacob Charlson to score Ryan Madsen. The Bears went up 5-3 in the top of the sixth on a 2-out RBI from Rylan Osbjornsen.

Time was running out on the Dorados but Martinez and Kokoskie reached with one out in the bottom of the sixth and then Charlson walked with two outs to load the bases. Magdaleno replaced Ramirez on the mound and he got out of that jam on a dropped third strike that resulted in the third out at home to preserve the 5-3 lead. Marquez took the ball in the top of the seventh to keep the game close but the Dorados were down to their last three outs.

Jones reached on a dropped third strike to open things up and then Alvarez walked to put two on. Tarrell Reid sacrificed both runners over and Martinez came up with a fielder’s choice that was thrown home but Jones slid under the tag to cut the score down to 5-4 with one out. Marquez hit a sacrifice fly to score Alvarez to tie the game at 5-5 with two outs and then Kokoskie singled to put the winning run at second. Magdaleno kept the Bears in the game with a fly ball for the third out.

Bradshaw Mountain left a runner at second base in the top of the eighth inning and the Dorados left two on in the bottom of the inning. Humphrey took the mound and he limited the Bears to a walk in the top of the ninth to set up the 6-5 win.

Casey (6), Marquez (3) and Humphreys combined for 10 strikeouts in the nine innings of play. Martinez went 2-4 as did Marquez and Khazaal went 2-4 for Bradshaw Mountain.

The Dorados have nine state championships with the last one coming last spring. Saguaro has three with the last coming in 2011 and Sahuarita also has three with the last coming in 2005.