Freshman leads St. Mary’s to softball title

If trigonometry and chemistry go as easily as softball has for freshman Dallas Escobedo, high school will be a piece of cake.

The 14-year-old Phoenix St. Mary’s right-hander struck out 15, including the last seven she faced and started the only real rally of the afternoon on Saturday. That would be impressive on any day, but this was just her first week of varsity play.

She capped it with the two-hit, 1-0 victory over Scottsdale Desert Mountain in the championship of the season-opening Lion Country Softball Tournament at Red Mountain Park in Mesa.

“I didn’t know what to expect because it was first year,” the tall, fire-balling Escobedo said. “I was pretty excited that I had a lot of strikeouts and we are just going to grow from here.”

If the Knights (7-0) do get better, then you can count them in as a favorite in the 5A-I softball race.

“There is always room for improvement but we started off good,” Escobedo said. “We were so pumped that it was our first tournament all together and we just clicked. It was fun.”

All Escobedo did was get her fast ball past a talented Wolves’ lineup for six of seven innings, facing only one over the minimum.

“Certainly, she is a difference-maker,” Desert Mountain coach Rick Sharp said. “They’re building a good little team around her. I think if we can make them make a mistake or two, we can still beat them. We are going to see her a lot.”

The Wolves and Knights should tangle for the Desert Valley Region title, but the Wolves still likely will be the class of 5A-II while the Knights fight in 5A-I.

The only “trouble” Escobedo got into was in the bottom of the fourth, when Whitney Phillips and Rachel Harbottle each reached on bunt singles. Phillips just beat the throw to first while St. Mary’s third baseman Priscilla Silva probably fielded the second bunt too early and didn’t even make a throw.

However, Escobedo (6-0) struck out Lauren Kemp and Meredith Whitney. Phillips and Harbottle stole bases to reach second and third but when Jennifer Tschetter took a second strike during her at-bat, Phillips thought it was the third strike and ran into a tag by Knights’ catcher Molly Smith.

For Escobedo, getting past a team that has been in the state semifinals three of the last five years, is a great way to start a prep career.

“I think she is going to be an awesome ballplayer by the time it’s all over,” St. Mary’s coach Bobby Pacheco said. “If we don’t do something with her, then I don’t know what it will take.”

Escobedo had already made a difference in the top of the inning. She led off the inning with a solid single to left. She was then replaced with courtesy runner Sierra Montenegro. Tatianna Talbo followed with another line-drive single and Nikki Gonzales hit a dribbler up the middle than ended up scoring Montenegro. That was all the offense Escobedo needed. That was all there was.

Kemp (3-2) had a pretty good day herself. She struck out six and only had trouble in two innings. She struck out Gonzales with the bases loaded and two out in the first. After giving up the RBI single to Gonzales in the fourth, she got Bianca Fajardo to pop out to third, got Desi Cuellar to fly out and struck out Vanessa Ramirez to end the threat. She retired 10 of the last 11 girls to bat.

But the Wolves (5-2), who scored 42 runs in a pair of games on Friday, couldn’t figure out the freshman.

“We came in here to get a lot of work in,” Pacheco said. “Surprisingly, it turned out the way it did.”