Boulder Creek baseball offense pounds way through region
Marc Buckhout ~ Managing Editor ~ 4/21/2010

The Boulder Creek Jaguars baseball team won its 20th game of the season Friday with a 12-1 Northwest Region win at Valley Vista.
In winning three of their last four games the Jaguars have scored at least 11 runs, knocking off defending region champion Deer Valley twice during the stretch by an 11-8 margin on April 9 and 11-5 on April 14.
In between those victories Boulder Creek fell to Willow Canyon 4-3 on April 12.
Heading into the final three games of the regular season Boulder Creek sits in a tie for fourth in the eight-team league at 6-4.
Deer Valley, at 11-13 overall leads the region at 8-2, with their lone losses coming to Boulder Creek. On Tuesday Boulder Creek played host to Mountain Ridge, which is 14-11 overall and 7-3 in region play (results unavailable at press time).
Mountain Ridge is tied with Sandra Day O’Connor with the 7-3 region mark. The Eagles, 12-11 overall, close the regular season by hosting Boulder Creek on Tuesday.
Before that matchups the Jaguars will have a chance to up their mark against two of the region’s weaker squads, playing at Goldwater (10-15, 3-7) Friday, before playing their regular season home finale against Kingman (6-16-1, 0-10) Monday.
As of press time Tuesday the Jaguars sit at No. 7 in the 5A Div-II power ratings.
In 4A Div-I action Cactus Shadows is 11-9 overall and 5-3 in Desert Sky Region play after salvaging one of three games from region rival Saguaro on Thursday.
Two days after being run-ruled in a 15-3 loss at home to the Sabercats, the Falcons got a stellar pitching performance from Jaron Long who hurled a complete game shutout in a 2-0 win. Long limited a Saguaro team that had 17 hits in five innings two days earlier, to six hits, walking one while striking out five.
Cactus Shadows was back in action Tuesday, at Queen Creek (results were unavailable at press time). On Thursday they complete the home and home set with the Bulldogs as Queen Creek (14-7-1, 3-4) pays a visit to the Falcons.
The final week of the regular season begins Tuesday when Cactus Shadows hosts Apache Junction in the first of four straight games. They are at Sunrise Mountain April 28, at Apache Junction April 29 before playing St. David on April 30. The Falcons sit at No. 9 in the 4A Div-I power ratings as of Tuesday.
SOFTBALL
The Cactus Shadows have been up and down of last as the Falcons sit at 10-10 on the season and 3-5 in Desert Sky Region play. After reeling off a four-game winning streak in which they scored 35 runs, nearly 9 runs per game the Falcons promptly lost four straight games, totaling just eight runs in a stretch that included a pair of narrow defeats to region leading Saguaro 2-1 and 3-0 on April 13 and Thursday respectively.
On Tuesday the Falcons tried to end their skid in a home game against Queen Creek (13-7, 5-2 (results unavailable at press time). On Thursday they travel to Queen Creek for the rematch. The Falcons sit at No. 12 in the 4A Div-I power ratings. The top 16 teams make the 4A Div-I state tournament.
At Boulder Creek the Jaguars sat at 6-4 in Northwest Region play following a 9-3 win over Valley Vista on Friday.
The Jaguars played at Mountain Ridge Tuesday (results unavailable at press time). They close the regular season against Kingman Monday and Sandra Day O’Connor on Tuesday.