Kofa marches on to quarterfinals
The Kofa baseball team reached the quarterfinals of the 5A-II State Baseball Tournament for the first time in at least six years with an 11-6 win against Tempe-Marcos de Niza on Saturday at the Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
Tied at 3-3 after four innings, the Kings exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to get past the same team that handed them their first-round loss a week ago.
"It felt like a familiar foe that we were well matched up against," Kofa coach Richy Leon said. "Our team has stepped up the level of play every game since, and today we ran into a couple walks and got some timely hits in that fifth inning."
All nine Kofa batters in the starting lineup recorded a hit on Saturday, with Timmy Lee (2-3, two runs), Gustavo Albarran (1-3, two runs) and Sergio Sanchez (1-3, run, RBI double) doing the most damage.
Claudio Valencia was the winning pitcher. He threw three innings of relief, striking out three and giving up three runs - all earned - on two hits and one walk.
The No. 8 seeded Kings, now 3-0 in elimination games, will play No. 5 Glendale-Deer Valley on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. Deer Valley lost to No. 1 Desert Ridge 13-3 on Saturday.
