BLAZER BASH: Palo Verde slugs away to Purple Division 3 championship

Most high school teachers and students can’t wait for spring break to get away from day-to-day school activities.

Even athletes and coaches look forward to taking a break from the usual grind of the sports season, if only for a couple of days.

Not Palo Verde baseball coach Paul Churchfield. The way his team is swinging the bat right now, Churchfield would like to play every single day.

The Panthers scored 16 runs in the top of the first on Wednesday on the way to a 25-4 win over Foothill for the Purple Division 3 championship of the Blazer Sportco Spring Bash at Sierra Vista.

In five tournament wins, Palo Verde scored 107 runs.

“It’s too bad we dont play tomorrow,” Churchfield said. “We’ve got guys running to the bat racks. It seemed like every guy we threw up there, even when we subbed kids, they got hits. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Palo Verde had four homers in the championship game, including three in the first inning, which saw 21 batters step to the plate. Billy Bob Ward, Dan Jaffe and Dillon Meyer each blasted an early home run.

Jaffe added a grand slam in the fifth, finishing 3-for-4 with a double, four runs scored and five RBIs. Ward was 3-for-4 with four runs and four RBIs, and Christian Centrella added three hits for the Panthers. Eleven players had at least one hit for Palo Verde, which started the season losing its first four games.

“It’s the exact opposite of the way we started the season,” Churchfield said of the offensive explosion in the tournament. “We came out and played and have swung the bat the way we’re capable of swinging it.“

Now the challenge is to carry the momentum from the tournament win back into Northwest League play. Palo Verde plays Shadow Ridge on Tuesday.

“Durango puts on a great tournament and its fun because you get to play teams you normally don’t,” Churchfield said. “But it’s all fun and games. Tuesday we go right back into league, and we need to carry it over when we go into league.”

Palo Verde 21, Birmingham (Calif.) 9 — At Sierra Vista, the Panthers scored 10 runs in the fifth inning to end the game by the 10-run rule.

Christian Centrella went 4-for-4 with two doubles and a home run to lead the Panthers. Ward added a home run for Palo Verde.

Foothill 9, Sierra Vista 8 — At Sierra Vista, Garrett Dobrolecki singled home Jake Ferdinand with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to give the Falcons the win.

Ferdinand, who pitched a scoreless seventh to earn the win, led off the bottom of the inning with a single. He advanced to second on a one-out ground ball by Kyle Moyes, and scored on Dobrolecki’s liner to right.

Moyes was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. Dobrolecki and Dylan Ellis each added two hits.

Billy Santiwan was 3-for-3 with a double, two runs and an RBI for Sierra Vista. Jake Hager had a solo home run for the Mountain Lions.

Banning (Calif.) 2, Centennial 1— At Centennial, Michael Hernandez tripled and scored a run, and Jonathan Hernandez supplied a double to help Banning (Calif.) edge Centennial and win the Purple 3 Championship.

Bryan Faucher finished 3-for-3 and scored Centennial’s only run.

Centennial 11, Spring Valley 0 — At Centennial, Michael Wagner fired a five-inning one-hitter with six strikeouts and one walk to lead the Bulldogs past the Grizzlies in the semifinals.

Faucher went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs for Centennial. Casey Moses hit 3-for-4, and Bruce Lewallen was 2-for-2 for the Bulldogs.

Chatsworth (Calif.) 14, Las Vegas 3 — At Durango, Brady Conlan was 2-for-3 with two doubles and five RBIs to lead the Chancellors over the Wildcats in the Steven Janvrin Championship Game.

Las Vegas’ Brig Jensen had a three-run home run, and Quinnton Mack went 2-for-3 for the Wildcats.

Las Vegas 17, Durango 8 — At Durango, Xavier Palmer ripped a grand slam and added a double, and Tanner Chauncey went 4-for-6 with a double and a triple to help the Wildcats outslug the Trailblazers in the Steven Janvrin semifinals.

Las Vegas scored 12 runs in the sixth inning.

Jordan Hodges belted three doubles and Mike Sukeyasu homered for Durango.

Chatsworth (Calif.) 3, Legacy 0 — At Durango, Aaron Brown fired a two-hit shutout with 13 strikeouts as the Chancellors shut out the Longhorns in the other Steven Janvrin semifinal.

Verdugo Hills (Calif.) 12, Sunrise Mountain 5 — At Las Vegas, the Miners were unable to climb out of a 9-1 deficit after two innings.

Keaton Orey went 2-for-4 with a triple for Sunrise Mountain.

Coronado 11, Cleveland (Calif.) 9 — At Sierra Vista, the Cougars scored five runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to take a 10-6 lead and held on for the victory in six innings.

Jordan Scott (three RBIs), Miles Bice, Chris Blake, Taylor Giordano and Scott Hauck had two hits apiece for Coronado.

Faith Lutheran 20, Roosevelt (Calif.) 5 — At Palo Verde, Blake Matthias was 3-for-3 with a home run, a double and five RBIs to lead the Crusaders to the win in five innings.

Michael Kinkenon also went 3-for-3 for Faith Lutheran, which led 12-1 after two innings. Teammate J.B. Eary had a pair of doubles.

Chaparral 9, San Fernando (Calif.) 7 — At Las Vegas, Jordan January singled home the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth inning as the Cowboys sneaked past the Tigers.

Raul Jimenez went 3-for-3 with a double and five RBIs for Chaparral, and January finished 2-for-3 with four RBIs.

Carson (Calif.) 14, Western 5 — At Spring Valley, the Colts belted five runs in the seventh inning to doom the Warriors.

Javier Ruiz was 3-for-4 with two runs for Western, and Adrian Gutierrez hit 2-for-4.

Bonanza 16, Sylmar (Calif.) 6 — At Durango, Hunter Davidson went 5-for-5 with a triple, a double, two RBIs and three runs to lead the Bengals past the Spartans in six innings.

Jordan Brennan was 3-for-4 for Bonanza, and teammates Ted Merich (four RBIs) and Eddie Orozco (two RBIs) each added two hits.

Cimarron-Memorial 20, Coquitlam (Canada) 6 — At Cimarron, Nathan Hale was 3-for-4 with four runs and three RBIs to help the Spartans to the five-inning win.

Kevin Dorantes blasted a home run, and Josh Nuernberg and Dominic Calabria each added two hits for Cimarron, which scored 10 runs in the second inning.

Narbonne (Calif.) 12, Boulder City 0 — At Foothill, Chris Ortega homered and doubled ,and Ricky Perez homered to help the Gauchos blank the Eagles in five innings.

Hector Avila fired a one-hitter with eight strikeouts to get the win.