SUNRISE BASEBALL: Coronado’s Bellamy seizes moment

Coronado’s batting lineup Tuesday featured four sophomores and four juniors. But it was senior Corben Bellamy that came through in the game’s biggest at-bat.

Bellamy, one of two seniors on the roster, lined a single to center field with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to score Garett Lake and give the Cougars a 4-3 home win over Liberty in the Division I Sunrise Region baseball tournament.

“To be honest, I think I was ready for it,” Bellamy said. “My last guy, all he had to do was put it in play to get that winning run in. But I kind of had it in my head that if he failed to do that, that I was going to be the guy. I had the confidence to come up and do my job, take my guys to victory.”

Coronado (19-10-1) plays at Basic (30-4) at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. Liberty (20-12) hosts Foothill (13-17) in an elimination game, also at 3:30 Wednesday.

Lake drew a walk to lead off the seventh and went to second on a sacrifice by Taylor Darden.

Anthony Carro then hit a grounder to shortstop. Liberty’s Jacob Rogers fielded it and tried to throw out Lake advancing to third, but he beat the throw to put runners on the corners with one out.

Leadoff hitter Kyle Hall popped up to Rogers at short for the second out, but Bellamy lined a 2-2 pitch to center to end the game.

“That’s the guy, and I’ve been saying it all year,” Coronado coach Rich Santigate said. “It’s his last year, and the right guy at the right time.”

Liberty had tied the score in the top of the sixth when pinch runner Kaden Camat-Toki came home on a wild pitch. The Patriots threatened in the seventh after Justin Lutes led off with a single and Jacob Klein walked with one out.

Santigate lifted starter Christian Sanford, who had thrown 142 pitches. Lake got Kevin Clark to fly out to right, and Hall came on and struck out Michael Wong to end the threat.

Sanford allowed six hits in 6 1/3 innings. He struck out nine and walked six.

“That’s a great outing,” Bellamy said. “That guys’ been the most consistent pitcher we had all year. He strikes everybody out. Whenever he’s on the bump, we play hard for him, because he plays hard for us.”

Bellamy said he doesn’t think the team’s youth will be an issue as the Cougars move forward in the tournament.

“I feel like people are more scared to play us because they don’t want to lose to the younger team,” Bellamy said. “And we’re hot right now. Age, it’s just a number. We’re all ballplayers. We’ve been playing since we were four years old. And right now, we’re the best team out here and we’re ready for anyone.”

Las Vegas 7, Silverado 6 — At Silverado, Antonio Gaxiola was 3-for-4 with a two-run home run and four RBIs as the Wildcats edged the Skyhawks.

Hector Perez went 3-for-4 with an RBI, and teammate Diego Delgado doubled twice with an RBI and two runs for Las Vegas (17-13), which plays at Green Valley (21-10) at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Payton Ballard was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI for Silverado. Kevin Pindel went 2-for-3 with a double, and Michael Camburn had two RBIs for the Skyhawks (21-9), who host Rancho (18-15) in an elimination game at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

Basic 4, Foothill 0 — At Basic, David Hudleson went 2-for-3 with a triple and an RBI, and Trever Berg fired a five-hit shutout with five strikeouts to lead the Wolves past the Falcons.

Jack Wold and Christian Santillanes each hit a double for Basic.

Jack Fredericksen went 2-for-3 for Foothill.

Green Valley 12, Rancho 2 — At Green Valley, A.J. Amelburu went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a run as the Gators beat the Rams in six innings.

Matt Gilbertson was 2-for-3 with a double, two runs and two RBIs, and Carter Gehlken went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run.

Drake Maningo, Jake Leonard and Austin Primack each added two hits and an RBI for Green Valley.

Chayse Baker was 2-for-3 with an RBI for Rancho, and teammate Jimmy Gamboa went 2-for-3.