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Superior Panthers
It doesn’t get much bigger or better for two rival teams.
Top-seeded Superior and No. 4-seed Ray will play in one of two 1A State Semifinals games this Friday at the Goodyear Baseball Complex with the winner advancing to Saturday’s state championship game and the loser going home.
Both teams have been ranked in the top-five most of this season and the only unfortunate thing about the matchup is that it’s not taking place in the championship game, like Monday’s softball title game.
Superior won the region championship, three games ahead of second place Ray.
Ray High Bearcats
The two teams are evenly matched statistically, despite the Panthers sweeping the Bearcats in two regular-season meetings.
Ray scored 299 runs this season compared to the Panthers’ 280, but Superior allowed 37 fewer runs than Ray and outscored the Cats 35 – 9 in the two wins earlier this season.
Superior will likely choose among Kale Major, Edgar Galindo and Nicolaus Cruz to be on the bump Friday night. Ray will counter with ace Noah Warren or undefeated Brett Fackiner.
Friday’s game is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
The winner will play Saturday at 4:30 p.m. versus Bagdad or Valley Union.
Andrew Luberda began writing for Copper Area News Publishers (CANP) in February 2013 after working 15 years in Healthcare Financial Management. Andy covers sports for 11 high schools. His stories are published in Copper Basin News, San Manuel Miner and Superior Sun, in addition to the San Tan Valley Daily PRSS and CopperArea websites. Additionally, he has written human interest stories and business profiles. In May 2012, he earned an AAS in Sports Management at Central Arizona College before graduating with a BS in Communication from Arizona State University in 2014. He and his wife, Kelli, have three sons – AJ, Kyle, and Kade.
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