I-A BASEBALL: Hollis comes through in clutch as Sierra Vista ousts Faith Lutheran

Nerves seemed to be getting the best of Sierra Vista’s DaVion Hollis as he batted with the bases loaded in the top of the ninth inning on Friday.

Hollis swung and missed at the first two pitches he saw, and neither was even close to the strike zone.

He stepped out of the batter’s box and relaxed himself. He took the next pitch for a ball, then ripped a fastball down the third-base line to drive in two runs and propel the Mountain Lions to a 6-3 victory over Faith Lutheran in the Division I-A Southern Region tournament in Boulder City.

“I swung at two wild pitches,” Hollis said. “Then, I stepped out of the box and called time. I was able to relax myself and thought about what I needed to do, and I was able to do it. He threw me an inside fastball, and I was able to turn on it — right down the line.”

The win moved the Mountain Lions (19-17) into the region title game and earned them a berth in next week’s state tournament. Sierra Vista plays Boulder City (24-7) at noon Saturday at Boulder City for the title. The Mountain Lions need to win twice to claim the tournament title.

Sierra Vista coach Justin Sherman is not too concerned about whether his team wins the region title. Sierra Vista has its sights set on something bigger.

“Since I’ve been here, (Faith Lutheran) had our number,” Sherman said. “They beat us all three times last year and twice this year already. So to come out and put up a fight against those guys is a plus for us, and to keep at it with them and to take it to the end is just icing on the cake.”

In order to get to the state tournament, the Mountain Lions had to dig themselves out of a deep hole after losing to Chaparral on Tuesday. Sierra Vista had to win four consecutive losers’ bracket games.

“We’re a grinding team,” Sherman said. “All year, we’ve got down early, but we just keep grinding out. We take it an inning at a time. That’s what I stress to my guys. You win one inning, and then win another one, and that’s how we roll sometimes.”

The Mountain Lions also needed a late-inning rally to force extra innings against Faith Lutheran (23-10).

The Crusaders mounted a three-run rally in the bottom of the fifth inning. Jake Koentopp’s two-run double gave Faith Lutheran a 3-1 lead.

With two outs in the top of the sixth inning, Matthew Vanderburg started a Sierra Vista rally with a single. Hollis followed with another single, before Hunter Wood and Kaven Alfarez each drove in a run with RBI singles.

The Crusaders had a chance to take the lead back in the bottom of the sixth, but Jhared Gonzalez pitched around a leadoff double and a walk. In the eighth inning, Gonzalez again pitched out of trouble to keep the Mountain Lions’ hopes alive.

“I just kept reminding them how hard we’ve worked all year,” Sherman said. “You know we’ve been in that situation a lot, come from behind, and it wasn’t anything we couldn’t do. We’ve scored two, three or four an inning before, we just had to do it one more time.”

Gonzalez pitched 4 2/3 innings of relief to pick up the win. He didn’t allow a run while scattering five hits and walking three. He struck out four. Victor Guerrero got the final out. Sierra Vista’s Blake Kaplan pitched 4 1/3 innings before he ran into trouble in the fifth inning. He allowed three runs on three hits and four walks and fanned five.

Koentopp had a double and drove in two runs for Faith Lutheran.

Sierra Vista 11, Tech 4 — Ryan Carroll’s three-run double sparked a four-run fourth inning as the Mountain Lions eliminated the Roadrunners (14-18).

Braxton Anderson went the distance to pick up the win for the Mountain Lions, allowing three earned runs on six hits. He struck out seven.

Hollis doubled and had two RBIs.