Tomasa Perez is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover St. Mary's High School for AZPreps365.com

After a tough 3-1 loss to Seton Catholic, the St. Mary’s Knights return to their home field at Washington High School, eager to turn things around against Marcos de Niza.

As fans fill the stands and the evening air cools, the Knights take the field on defense, with sophomore Billy Lewis making his first start on the mound.

Head Coach Chris Rideau expresses confidence in his pitcher, “Today, our starting pitcher is a sophomore. This will be his first start on the bump. So we're all a little curious to see what we find out about the young man, but we have a lot of confidence in him.”

The Knights bring strong energy as they transition to offense. Leading off, junior Luis Mejia starts the game off with a walk, with Javier Romero being hit by a pitch, it causes Mejia to advance to second, then Sean Berry hits a double, Mejia giving St. Mary’s an early 1-0 lead while leaving runners on second and third.

In the second inning, the Knights’ defense locked in, quickly turning a double play to shut down Marcos de Niza’s offense. Back at the plate, Lewis looks to add to the early momentum and hit a single in play to the center fielder.

With the intensity on the field and strong energy from the players, Lewis mentions, “It starts with a dugout. Everyone needs to be loud in the dugout, and it just fuels the batter to put a bat on the ball.” 

Romero added, “I feel like we just have to have trust in our team, which is obviously what we all have. We all have faith in our teammates, so that's what brings the momentum into the game.”

Sophomore Evan Rios hits a ground out during the bottom of the first inning, leading Romero to home plate, making the score 2-0.

Coach Rideau mentions the key areas for tonight's game: “The key word was focus and locked in. Just go out and take care of business,” which the Knights have been showing throughout the game.

During the fourth inning, Meija was tagged out at third base, causing frustration to the fans as it was unclear if he made it to the base in time. 

At the top of the sixth inning, Coach Rideau pulled the team onto the mound and decided to make a pitching change. Meija is closing as the pitcher, replacing Billy Lewis towards the end of the game.

Billy Lewis said proudly of his teammate, “I knew Luis could get it done. He's probably one of our best pitchers, and I know Coach has a lot of trust in him, so I knew he'd get the job done.”

Ending the night after a 3-2 victory, Coach Rideau looks ahead at what comes next for the Knights: “Be ready. We have a business trip tomorrow. We're on our way to Prescott to play, and we're not going up there for any other reason. It is not a fool-around date. It's a business trip.”