Richard Smith

West Valley Preps

In a transformative season that included an 11-game winning streak (active until Thursday), Willow Canyon baseball jumped several levels in quality of play from Wildcat teams of the past five to eight years.

They headed for Peoria Thursday with a 6-0 Northwest Region record, the same as host Liberty. The Lions were quick to show the Wildcats they still have several levels to climb.

Junior Luke Paugua's three-run homer, followed by senior Jake Kelley's triple and senior Trevor Felan's towering two-run bomb allowed to grab a 6-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Junior ace Chandler Murphy was equally dominant in the 11-0 win in five innings.

"The early part of the year for us was an important time. We had some position battles going on, and some guys we rested in the fall and the winter. We wanted to bring them along slow because of their baseball futures," Liberty coach Chris Raymond said. "Offensively, we've come a long way. We played a challenging schedule early and our guys have been hitting a lot of ball hard, even though the run totals weren't high."

All three first-inning blasts were to a similar area of right center. And a lineup that lost six seniors from the 2017 wrecking crew is falling into place a week before the playoffs.

A little wind - ok a lot of wind - didn't hurt.

"I could tell that the wind was pulling those balls all the way. I was mostly focusing on that gap over there. It just kept going for me and obviously, I was really happy about it," Felan said.

Willow Canyon (12-5 overall and regular season) can't take much out of this game other than two singles by senior Nolan Lovett.

The best news for the team from Surprise is that it will host a rematch at home at 6 p.m. Friday. Win that, and the Wildcats will tie for the region title.

"The best thing about playing baseball is you get to play several games in a week. That's the best thing about tomorrow. We faced their ace and he did the phenomenal job," Willow Canyon coach Orlando Rodriguez said. "They swung the bat really well and took advantage of some miscues with our pitching. That's what great teams do. We have to learn from these mistakes. Eventually, I'm hoping in the next couple years we can compete with teams like Liberty, Millennium and Verrado."

With the quick turnaround in mind, Liberty (16-8, 11-5) was aggressive on the basepaths. Pauga and Kelley each singled to lead off the bottom of the third and Pauga swiped third base.

Felan's bloop double drove Pauga in. Then Felan stole third and scored on a passed ball.

Senior Isaiah Montoya singled, stole second and went to third on a passed ball but was stranded there. Liberty led 8-0 entering the fourth.

"Everyone has to be taken seriously (in 5A) and there's no days off," Raymond said. "The idea is on day one, you've got to try to do everything you can so on day two, they've gone through arms. We got day one out  of the way and we know full well that it's a new day tomorrow."

Welch hit the team's third homer run of the night to left to start the fourth. Senior Jace Johnson followed with a single and Pauga smacked a double off the fence in right.

Kelley's sacrifice fly and a wild pitch allowed Pauga to score the game's final run.

Murphy did not need nearly that much, on an afternoon where he strikeouts.

"He had 14, out of 15 outs. There's an old adage that you can't strike everyone out but today, he got really close," Raymond said.

Liberty entered the day #7 and the 5A rankings and is close to locking down a bye and a home game in the first round.

This perennial contended is peaking in April, with a 6-1 record. The only loss was 2-1 at Scottsdale Chaparral.

"More than half of us have been here before. We all know what these games mean and how important they are," Felan said.

Regardless of Friday's outcome, this is a landmark season for Willow Canyon baseball. The team entered Thursday's game ranked #11 in 5A.

That virtually assures the Wildcats of hosting a play-in game April 25, after missing out on the postseason since 2009. The team and northwest Surprise community has responded to its first-year coach - a former Liberty assistant - winning 11 straight games before Thursday.

"That's something tremendous for Willow Canyon baseball," Rodriguez said. "It's been a fun, exciting first year. I've seen nothing but excitement from the community and on campus as well. These boys and the community are starting to believe in what we're doing here."