Richard Smith West Valley Preps

A season of firsts for Willow Canyon softball ended May 3, but not before the Wildcats came achingly close to a first playoff win against a No. 1 seed.

#1 Phoenix Arcadia led the Wildcats 5-1 after four innings Thursday night in an elimination game at Rose Mofford Sports Complex in Phoenix.

But #12 Willow Canyon scored three runs in the top of the fifth inning and one more to tie in the top of the sixth.

Arcadia regrouped, and loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth. Senior Mae Forshey drove two runs in with a single and junior relief pitcher Jade Ng allowed one base runner in the top of the seventh but shut the door for a 7-5 win.

"All year long, we’ve never been out of a game. We just needed a kick start. I’m very proud of them and I’ve been proud of them all year. They set us on a course we’ve never been on. That’s the No. 1 team in the state and I thought at times we outplayed them," Willow Canyon coach Donnie Tizzano said.

At 7:30 p.m. May 8, Arcadia (29-4) will have another elimination game against a familiar foe. District rival and No. 4 seed Scottsdale Chaparral (25-10) fell 5-0 to Ironwood Ridge Thursday.

"When they tied I said, ‘Oh it’s a 0-0 ballgame. We’re starting from scratch.’ I tried to take the pressure off everybody. We’re going to go out there and hit," Forshey said. "My first two at bats were awful. I was so over-agressive. I was looking for a ball low in the zone ... Thank God it worked."

Arcadia coach Jason Foster's squad was in control early, scoring two runs in the first inning. The opening run came home on an error and the Titans loaded the bases with no outs for Forshey.

She hit into a double play, but on the right side of the infield, allowing a teammate to come home.

Both teams scored once in the second inning.

Senior Maria Serrato hit a two-run homer to left in the bottom of the fourth. That gave junior starter Ellie Richardson a 5-1 cushion.

Junior starter Carrigan Foster steadied things for the Wildcats from there, allowing their bats to go to work.

"She threw a little bit in the preseason tournament. But (before the Shadow Ridge game) she walked up to me and had that look in her eye. She wanted the ball. I had her throw me five pitches, and  you could see it. She is a bulldog," Tizzano said. "She grinds and nothing gets to her. She has the perfect mentality for a softball player."

But with runners on first and second and one out in the bottom of the fifth, Foster pulled Richardson in favor of senior reliever Abby Holloran.

Willow Canyon (18-13-1) junior Andraya Rhinehart greeted her with a deep fly ball that was dropped for a run-scoring error. Senior MacKenzie Federico followed with a 2-RBI shot.

"It’s huge, they had the momentum once they tied it up. They fought back and we knew they were going to. If you look at their record, they played a lot of really good teams in a tough region," coach Foster said.

Senior Brooke Windahl singled to lead off the sixth and advanced to second on an air after Ng came on in relief.

Ng battled back with two strikeouts, but sophomore Mo Foster tied the game on a RBI single.

"Mo is just a sophomore but there is nobody else I want up in that spot." Tizzano said.

Tizzano left Willow Canyon for a junior college job in Minnesota after the 2014 season. The program drifted in the past three seasons, with a new coach arriving each year.

Returning a few months before this season started, the coach made up for lost time.

"There was one time during the season that I was watching Brooke late in the year. I got lost in the moment and I thought to myself ... I wish I had four years with her. She's had a sore arm since the beginning of the year, and we moved her to second and thought about taking her out (of the lineup)," Tizzano said. "She is a gamer and is what Willow Canyon is all about. She's just like her (older) sister, Myranda. I love coaching those two kids. Jamie Maddox is another leader, that didn't play a lot but gave me everything she had." Willow Canyon's Carrigan Foster throws a pitch against Arcadia on Thursday, May 3, 2018 at Rose Mofford Sports Complex in Phoenix. [Jacob Stanek/West Valley Preps][/caption]