PREP BASEBALL: Big-time battle... in a Big League ballpark

In less than a week the underdog has turned into a junkyard dog.

“We were just scared to death,” Mountain Pointe High School baseball coach Brandon Buck said after Desert Vista High School showed its fangs in a 10-1 second round state Class 5A-Division I playoffs victory under the lights Tuesday night at Tempe Diablo Stadium.

It may be a leap of faith that has helped Desert Vista evolve from a 13th-seeded baseball team in the playoffs with a 15-16 overall record to a ballpark terror.

“We keep telling the kids if they work hard, good things will happen,” Desert Vista coach Stan Luketich said. “Sometimes you wonder if the kids really believe in what you’re saying, but we’ve been playing better baseball in the last couple of weeks and if there is time to do that, now’s the time.”

Desert Vista also upset fourth-seeded Tempe Corona del Sol, 13-0, in the opening round of the playoffs.

Both schools had swept the Thunder in the Central Region three-game series during the regular season.

“You always want to play well in May, and it’s May,” Luketich added.

With the victory the two-time state champion Thunder earned a shot at top-seeded Scottsdale Horizon at 7:30 Saturday night back at Diablo. Mountain Pointe was scheduled to face Chandler Hamilton in the double-elimination tournament at 7:30 Thursday night at Diablo.

The results of that game were too late for the Ahwatukee Foothills News deadline, but the winner advances to a third round game at Phoenix Municipal Stadium at 4 Saturday afternoon.

If the Thunder can stay in the upset mode against Horizon and the Pride can win their next two games, including the one against Hamilton, the two teams could meet for a fifth time this season in the pool play semifinals on Thursday, May 10 at Diablo.

Desert Vista sophomore Trent Wilson had a no-hitter going with one out in the sixth inning against the Pride. Steven Lujan broke that up with a pinch-hit single and scored from third on J.J. Ethel’s infield grounder.

“I didn’t really think about it,” said Wilson, who shut down the Pride in the sixth inning and still came out with a two-hitter. “After the hit I got to thinking about it, but there wasn’t any pressure.”

Mountain Pointe shortstop Philip Konieczny got the only other hit for the Pride behind Lujan in the sixth inning.

“Trent did a good job,” Luketich said. “He threw strikes and we played good defense behind him. We hadn’t been consistent all year because we didn’t play consistent defense.”

The Thunder had one error and turned a double play in the third inning.

Mountain Pointe, which went into the playoffs as the fifth seed, didn’t have much time to figure what went wrong against Desert Vista.

“Wilson threw an excellent game and we were not ready to go,” Buck said. “We were scared and didn’t make the plays. It was a beautiful place to play baseball and maybe the awe will be gone by next time. But we don’t have much time to figure out what happened.”

--Larry Ward can be reached at (480) 898-7915 or at lward@aztrib.com.