Fireworks went off in the distance during an Arizona State commencement ceremony.

Inside ASU’s Farrington Softball Stadium, the bats were also popping.

The Heritage Academy Laveen Heroes and the Horizon Honors Eagles might be on opposite sides of the South Mountains, but they do share some things in common, beginning with their potent lineups.

Those bats were the centerpiece for most of Monday’s action-packed, back-and-forth 2A softball championship. The extra base hits brought in most of the runs, but it was a squeeze play that ultimately handed Heritage Academy Laveen a 10-9 win and the crown.

Last year, despite dressing just one senior, Horizon Honors won its first softball title. Like last year’s 2A champ, the Heroes had only one senior this season but still claimed its first gold glove trophy, the first ever Arizona Interscholastic Association championship for the Laveen school in any sport.

“I think everybody played together today, and it put us on the map,” Heroes slugger Rowan Asanovich said. “Next year is going to be fun.”

The game-winning run scored in the fifth inning.

That’s when, with one out, the Heroes’ leadoff hitter/starting pitcher Sieana Soltero tripled with catcher Ciara Madrid on deck. The friends play different positions during club, but they volunteered to be battery mates during the high school season.

They were rewarded for their sacrifices when Madrid perfectly executed a squeeze to bring in the speedy Soltero and break a 9-9 tie. Two of the three bunts Madrid attempted went for hits. 

Her dad, Richard, is Heritage Academy Laveen’s assistant coach.

The Heroes’ defense faltered at times but came through in the biggest moments of the 2A 2024 finale. In the sixth, a freshman shortstop, Sieana’s twin sister Savana, doubled up a runner at first after catching a sharp hit liner.

Sieana then induced a grounder to end the sixth, the first and only time she faced three batters in an inning. In the top of the seventh, with a runner on first and one out, Horizon Honors brought the go-ahead run to the plate in Nicole Topete.

Topete scored the eventual winning run in last year’s 2A final and reached base four times before her final at-bat Monday. In that at-bat, she ripped a liner down the first base line but was snagged by first baseman Amaya LaDrigue.

LaDrigue then stepped on the bag for the title-clinching double play.

Heritage Academy Laveen’s defense also threw out a runner at home in the fourth inning.

LaDrigue’s dad, Steve, is the head coach of her team.

“It was exciting,” LaDrigue said. “It was just a regular line drive to me. I was relieved and a bit nervous, but I knew that my team had my back, and we would get the job done.”

One of the other heroes for the Heroes was one of the best players in the state regardless of conference.

Asanovich’s power electrified Farrington Stadium’s crowd, just when her team needed her the most. In the fourth inning, the sophomore left-handed hitter blasted a pitch all the way up the netting behind centerfield with the bases loaded.

The grand slam completely shifted the momentum, gave the Heroes a 8-5 lead and immediately continued to build on it.

The next batter, Savana (team-high .571 average), drilled a solo shot just above the centerfield wall.

Heritage Academy Laveen coach Steve Ladrigue congratulates freshman Savana Soltero after her fourth inning homer. (Jose Garcia/azpreps365)

Asanovich also had a two-out, two RBI third inning double to bring in the her team’s first runs.

“What the game came down to is that we didn’t have an answer for No. 4 (Asanovich),” Horizon Honors coach Mike Corey said. “She’s a great player, and she did what she was supposed to do. But our girls deserve a lot of credit too because we fell down, but we never gave up”

Corey’s team battled back when it trailed 4-2 and 9-5.

In the fifth, the 2A’s leading hitter, Horizon Honors’ Josie Barden (.722 ave.), knocked in two runs with a two-out double. Her team added two more runs in the frame after the Heroes’ sixth error of the game.

The top of Horizon Honors’ batting order of Topete, Barden and Audriana Anglada, Horizon Honors’ starting pitcher, went a combined 8-for-11.

Horizon Honors won 20-plus games for the second consecutive season, a first for the program.  (Jose Garcia/azpreps365) 

“We will back,” Corey said. “I don’t have any question about that.”

With all of the talent that’s returning for Horizon Honors (24-4) and Heritage Academy Laveen (26-3) we might just see a second championship chapter between the teams.

But we’ll let coach Ladrigue enjoy his first title first.

“This is great for our school,” Ladrigue said. “We got beat up in the AIA when we first got here (six years ago). But we grew and came back.”