Sun, Jul 06, 2008

high school sports

HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL: CLASS 4A-II

Catalina's surprising run ends with semifinal loss

By Al Bravo
Special to the arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 05.10.2008
PHOENIX — Catalina ran into a one-man wrecking crew in the 4A-II state baseball semifinals Friday night.
The Trojans could not hit Cottonwood Mingus ace Tony Vocca, and even had a hard time getting him out in a 6-1 loss at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
"He was good," Catalina slugger Shaun Cooper said. "He was just pounding the strike zone. We haven't really seen fast pitching like that, so it was different. He was good. It was a good run."
No. 6 Mingus (21-11) will meet top-seeded Scottsdale Notre Dame — an 8-7 winner over Chandler Seton in nine innings earlier Friday — in the title game today at 3 p.m. in Phoenix.
Tenth-seeded Catalina (19-13) surprised many with a pair of wins to reach the penultimate round but got a tough matchup.
Catalina "won a state championship in 1967," Trojans coach Shane Folsom said. "As far as we can figure out, that's the last time they've gotten this far. It's been a long time. But it's been a complete turnaround."
Vocca shut down the Trojan bats for almost six innings, striking out 14 while allowing just four hits.
He even struck out five in a row before giving up a single to No. 9 hitter Alec Esquivel — and then struck out two more.
He had 10 strikeouts in the first four innings.
At the plate, the junior tripled in the first and scored when Nicco Blank stumbled in right field while trying to get to a fly ball down the line.
Vocca hit another double in the sixth.
Shaun McCarty also had two two-run triples.
Catalina's first real threat came with two outs in the sixth when Cooper hit a 360-foot triple to left field, and Rey Robles walked. But Vocca got Scott Rojas to go down swinging, Vocca's 12th victim of the night.
In the seventh, Anthony Romero singled and scored on a double down the line by Gabe Mojarro. But Vocca got Esquivel to fly out to right to end the game.
Meanwhile, Catalina starter Jose Samayoa (2-4) had trouble after setting down the first two batters of the game.
Samayoa, a senior, gave up two runs in the first and then gave up a bases-loaded walk to Vocca in the second. He allowed four runs and four hits, hit two batters and walked three in 1 2/3 innings.
Romero kept Catalina close with 2 1/3 shutout innings.
Vocca (11-1) came into the game with 137 strikeouts in 81 innings and a 2.25 ERA.
"He pitched a great game. He's got good stuff," Folsom said.