Small Town News

Determination and hard work pay off in learning experiences and successes for Panthers in recent games

---

The Panthers worked hard the previous week to prepare for their tournaments this past weekend. The boys participated in the Salt River tournament on March 25-27. The girls, meanwhile, accepted an invitation to the March 26-27 Hayden tournament.

The girls' first game in the tournament was against Hayden itself at the crack of dawn. The early game play caused the Lady Panthers to make various mental mistakes, not hitting cut-offs or catching easy fly balls. The Hayden Lobos had, in fact, won their game from Superior's errors.

Later that day, the girls went up against a 4-A school, the Catalina Trojans. This was another game full of errors for the Lady Panthers. The girls did not talk, allowing Catalina to score seven runs in one inning. This seemed to have the effect of making the Lady Panthers give up on themselves and they didn't show their full potential.

But the next day, Superior was back to face Catalina yet again to fight for their spot in the tourney. The girls showed their opponents what they were made of by starting off strong and holding them up until the 4th inning. Unfortunately, Superior gave up an inning, allowing Catalina to get ahead and win the game 5-12. Janae Perez had a home run that game and, along with Andrea Betancourt, did an outstanding job at pitching. Dominique Castillo was announced all-tourney. Overall, the tournament was a very frustrating one and the girls feel they have a lot to work on and will use it as a learning experience to help them grow as a team.

The boys, on the other hand, did an exceptional job last week. Their first game was against South Point. Manuel Ortega played aggressively, sitting down player after player for a strike out and only giving up two hits. The final score was 11-2, Superior.

Their next game was against Cibecue and the Panthers were quick to rack up 13 runs on multiple hits and errors. The final score of that game was 20-0. Alan Fox had 12 strike outs and a no-hitter.

The next day, the Panthers felt pretty confident against Monument Valley, starting up strong, putting up 10 runs on multiple hits. Martin Granillo struck out many players and Superior had won yet again with a score of 17-1.

Their team's next opponent was San Carlos. This game was harder than the previous ones and caused the Panthers to step up their game. The team managed to stay ahead, having good defense and base running, which was vital to their victory of 4-1.

The Panthers then kept their winning streak alive, defeating Miami 5-2, advancing them to the championship round against Sisters, a 4-A school from Oregon. At first the Panthers were ahead and stayed there up until the fourth inning. Unfortunately, the Panthers had a bad inning, slowing down their momentum and eventually costing them the game with a score of 6-8, leaving the Panthers with second place in the tournament, still a great victory for Superior.

"Overall, the tournament was good for the boys," said Coach Fraijo. "They showed their dominance in playing schools their own size and showed heart in toughing it out with bigger schools." Their next opponents will be against Salt River, and they hope for the best.



Copyright 2010 The Superior Sun, Superior, Arizona. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2010 The Superior Sun Superior, Nebraska. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

More from The Superior Sun