AZSPORTSNETWORK

Day 1 of the 23rd Annual Joe S. Padilla Florence Baseball Tournament is over and what an exciting day of baseball! The reason I love this tournament is because you never know what to expect.

Lets take a look at Superior:

#5 Florence 4 #6 Superior 1

Our nightcap game featured 2 top ranked teams from their respective divisions. Florence who is ranked #5 in 3A and Superior who is ranked #6 in 1A showed why they are ranked so high.

The Gophers threw Marrufo, who had 6 K's in the first 2 innings and 8 for the game as he totally dominated the Panthers who could not adjust to his fast-ball or breaking pitches all night. Marrufo showed us why he will be one of many pitchers from Florence who will help lead them to the playoffs for the 2010 season.

On the other side Superior threw their ace, Ortega, who also showed he will be a forced in the 1A division this year. With a nice fast-ball, and a breaking pitch that will buckle the hitters at the knees, he was able to keep the 1A Panthers in the game. If not for errors this game could have been 0-0 going into the 5th as the Gophers timing was a bit off since they had not played this season.

One of the areas that Florence shines is with their tremendous power from 1-9 in the batting order. The Gophers have so much talent that any pitcher facing them this season will have to deal with a top hitter at every single spot. They have so much depth that even the players off of the bench come in and have a chance to hurt you as well.

With strong contact the Gophers were able to get 4 runs vs Superior, who showed much improvement on the defensive side of the ball. Last year you were on the edge of your seat with any ball that was put into play because the focus and fundamentals of the Panthers were their Achilles Heel. But this year the Panthers have shown their focus and fundamentals have changed and they are ready to have a great tournament and move on to a possible state championship in 2010!

Marrufo who was on a strict pitch count went 4 innings and not allowing any runs with 8 strikeouts for his effort. Murphy came in relief for Marrufo in the 5th.

Ortega for Superior and Marrufo for Florence were named AZSports Players of the Game for their pitching efforts.

#4 TV14-3 over #11 St. Augustine:

IN an early match-up from top teams in the 1A South TV defeated St. Augustine 14-3 in 7 innings. WE have to look at what this means in the scheme of things: 1st TV is still a ways ahead of the THE TEAMS who are in the 2nd tier of the South, but St. Augustine is definitely closing the gap.

Valley Lutheran 9 PCDS 8:

We mentioned that this was a good early test for our top ranked VL team and we were not wrong! VL was down 6-2 and scored 7 runs in top of the 7th to get the 9-8 win! This is an example of why we have this team at the top spot in 1A. PCDS is not a bad 2A team. They traditionally have one stud pitcher who can beat any top team at the 2A or other levels. Thanks to sundevil for this report from the VL game.

Patagonia 11 San Miguel 4:

Need to give some kudos to the Lobos for getting a win in their season opener. Coach Spencer gets his first win which we hope is many to come during the rest of the season.

Softball:

St. Augustine 14 TV 2:

The machine we know as Brink continues to show us why she is one of the top pitchers not only in 1A but in all classifications.