The first Verde Valley rivalry baseball game of the 2018 season turned out in atypical fashion, becoming a one-sided affair in favor of Camp Verde High School, winning 10-1 on Thursday, March 29.
The Cowboys [6-3, 2-0 Central Region] won their second straight game after dropping two in a row the week prior. They went up 5-0 after the first inning and never looked back, winning their fifth straight matchup with the Scorpions [3-5, 0-1 Central Region] dating back to 2016.
“That was probably the whole turning point in the game honestly. We got that big lead and I think it flattened them out a little bit and we were able to hang on to it and chip away at it,” Camp Verde head coach Will Davis said. “I see us growing every game. If you just paid attention to our freshman shortstop today, Mason [Rayburn], he’s moving the parts around like he’s supposed to do finally, he’s talking, he’s getting guys in the right position and he’s learning to lead out there in the middle.”
Camp Verde pulled itself from a three-game slump during which it edged Tonopah Valley High School 14-11 on the road on March 20 before falling 12-5 to Scottsdale Preparatory Academy on March 22 and 19-9 to Payson High School on March 24.
It opened region play in an 11-0 win against Glendale Preparatory Academy on March 27 before taking down Red Rock on the road to find itself in a tie for first with Paradise Honors High School.
Cowboys junior Dominiq Bruno, in his return from ineligibility during the slump, went the distance on the mound. Bruno scattered four hits for one earned run on top of seven strikeouts and two walks.
He also drove home the first run of the game, in the top of the first inning, singling home the leadoff batter in junior catcher Dakota Battise. Battise reached after being hit by a pitch, and sophomore center fielder Dawson McCune singled afterward, and would later find home after sophomore second baseman Coke Bast was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
“Good to come back, and I played my best baseball, and when we play our best baseball, we get wins,” Bruno said. “The past couple years [the rivalry factor has] been pretty big, but this year, this year it wasn’t really anything.”
Bruno found home on a pop fly that dropped in for a single by Rayburn. The Cowboys’ final two runs in the frame were scored on passed balls.
Camp Verde was tasked with defending what was a sizeable enough lead against a Scorpions team that has surpassed the five run mark just four times out of eight power-point games. Red Rock managed to get just four runners in scoring position, two coming in the bottom of the sixth inning when it scored its lone run. Needing to score at least one run to avoid a mercy rule defeat, Scorpions senior shortstop Michael Ortega drove a triple into deep center field to lead the inning off.
Red Rock senior catcher Wyatt Ross followed up with an RBI double, but Bruno coaxed a fly out and a line out to end the inning.
Defensively, Davis made a handful of changes compared to his lineup against Scottsdale Prep. After the game, he talked about moving players around to spots as a function of their opponents’ strengths. At one point Camp Verde retired nine straight Scorpions, from the third through the fifth innings.
“We knew the team we were playing today. We knew they have a lot of big hitters that were going to hit a lot of big fly balls, so we moved some of our better athletes, older guys, to the outfield today, which was intentional,” Davis said. “We also knew they have speed and like to run the bases, so we moved a guy in behind the plate that would have a little bigger of an arm, so that would help out there, too.”
Meanwhile, offensively, the Cowboys scored two runs in the fifth inning. Bast singled to lead things off, and later found home on sophomore left fielder Kelton O’Grady’s two-out double. Camp Verde freshman right fielder Peyton Kelley then doubled home O’Grady.
The final three runs came in the sixth. Cowboys junior third baseman Braden Schuh doubled in Bruno for the first. Schuh later scored on an error and the final run came on sophomore first baseman Wylie Howe’s single.
Camp Verde traveled to Paradise Honors on Tuesday, April 3, but results were unavailable at press time. It next plays at 3:45 p.m. Friday, March 6, at home against Northland Preparatory Academy.
