Sanderford’s gem leads Prescott to District 10 Majors championship
Little League

The Prescott All-Stars celebrate after getting the last out in their 11-0 win over Chino Valley during the District 10 Little League Major’s Tournament championship game on Saturday, June 29, at Bill Vallely Field. (Aaron Valdez/Courier)

The Prescott All-Stars celebrate after getting the last out in their 11-0 win over Chino Valley during the District 10 Little League Major’s Tournament championship game on Saturday, June 29, at Bill Vallely Field. (Aaron Valdez/Courier)

PRESCOTT — While Prescott dominated in all phases of the game throughout the entire District 10 Majors All-Stars Tournament, it was a spectacular no-hitter from Adrian Sanderford that propelled Prescott to an 11-0 win over Chino Valley in the championship game on Saturday at Bill Vallely Field.

by Aaron Valdez

This triumph for Prescott completed a quasi-three-peat in that its core group of players also claimed the 11U and Minors titles in the past two years.

In this year’s tournament, Prescott proved itself virtually unbeatable, outscoring opponents 47-4 and not committing a single error in four games, which is an accomplishment manager Terry Magnett can hang his hat on.

“All the credit in the world goes to the boys. They were so committed from Day 1,” Magnett said. “They just really performed well in each game. This is our third year of doing this, and to go through district three years in a row without a loss is real credit to the boys.”

Prescott and Chino Valley already were familiar with each other going into Saturday’s title game, as Prescott sent Chino Valley down to the loser’s bracket on Thursday with a 14-2 win. However, Chino Valley showed its resiliency by defeating Bagdad in the loser’s bracket to earn a rematch with Prescott in the finals.

Prescott and Sanderford had no plans to play a second game on Sunday as Sanderford twirled an absolute gem to close out the tournament. Chino Valley’s batters had no answers for him as he recorded no hits, five strikeouts and allowed only one walk to Emilio Rocha in the third inning on 46 pitches. On top of all that, he also went 3 for 3 at the plate and had three RBIs.

photo

The Prescott All-Stars pose for celebratory team photo after claiming the District 10 Little League Major’s Tournament championship with an 11-0 win over Chino Valley on Saturday, June 29, at Bill Vallely Field. The tournament win earns Prescott a berth in the state tournament in Kingman on July 15. (Aaron Valdez/Courier)

“He’s been right there, if not, our best pitcher,” Magnett said. “As long he was throwing strikes and pitching well, we were going to ride him out and we did. … He was very dominant tonight, and the defense also made some nice plays behind him as they have all tournament.”

Sanderford was content with his performance on the mound but he was evidently even happier to have put Prescott in position to succeed and move on to the state tournament.

“I just feel really excited for state and I feel like we are a really good winning team and we could do really good in state and maybe move on to do more, and I just hope that we can do our best,” Sanderford said.

Of course, Prescott exhibited its prowess at the plate as well with Dominic Cruz, Cooper Magnett, Zane Gaul, Taylor Keppel, Cooper Kasun and Ethan Warren all getting in on the fun by tallying one hit each. Prescott broke the game open in the second inning when a string of hits and some errors from Chino Valley gave Prescott a 6-0 lead.

Prescott added five more runs in the third frame to make it 11-0, which ultimately activated the run rule in the fourth once Sanderford retired the final Chino Valley batter.

While Terry Magnett has been at the helm during these championship runs, he was eager to give much credit to his trusted coaching staff for helping guide the team in the right direction.

“I got a great group of coaches (Casey Kasun, Dorian Sanderford, Steve Cruz, Kevin Warren),” Terry Magnett said. “We’ve all been on the same page with these boys for three years now. They just have been so committed to this group, and we just really have a good disciplined group.”

UP NEXT

Prescott will head to Southside Park in Kingman on July 15 to compete in the state tournament. Terry Magnett said the team will resume practice next week.

Aaron Valdez is a sports reporter for The Daily Courier of Prescott News Network. Follow him on Twitter at @Valaaron_94. Email avaldez@prescottaz.com or call 928-445-3333, ext. 2031.


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