Sometimes everything works out as planned. Other times, things change, and plans go out the window. For the Sabino baseball team this year, it was the latter.
Returning senior Will Holbrook was supposed to be the ace of the Sabercats' pitching staff. That is, until he blew out his arm before the season and underwent Tommy John surgery.
But Sabino is making do nicely. The Sabercats shut out Santa Rita 8-0 Thursday behind four scoreless innings from Spencer Larson and three from Dean Sanderson.
Sabino improved to 6-1 on the season, using a rotation of senior Jacob Tick; Larson, a junior; and sophomore Ben Skuro. Not quite what anyone expected, but it's been working out so far.
"I thought a lot of the big games would go to Will, and then when we lost him, it was kind of just a toss-up," Larson said.
Larson faced only three more than the minimum over his four innings and, other than allowing a triple to Santa Rita's Stuart Figueroa in the fourth, was in complete control.
Sanderson got into trouble in the sixth and seventh but kept his composure to keep the shutout intact. He induced inning-ending groundouts in each of the final two innings as Santa Rita had runners in scoring position on both occasions.
"We've got a staff that's got some great upside and potential," Sabino coach Rod Allen said.
Without Holbrook, the mentality of the pitching staff as a whole is different, Allen said.
"Part of our plan is not to strike people out, because then you throw too many pitches. We really try to pitch to contact, knowing that our defense is pretty sound."
The consensus among the players is that their best attributes are pitching and defense, but if the Sabercats are to go deep into the postseason, the bats will need to be a factor.
Sabino tallied eight runs on eight hits but scored only twice in a 9-2 loss to Sunnyside last week.
"This is always a good win after you get beat and you make too many mistakes," Allen said.
Santa Rita pitcher Robert Parrish issued two costly walks in the third to Skuro and Dylan Ruggeroli. The next Sabino batter, center fielder Kellen Marruffo, got a pop to drop in left field, scoring Skuro and Ruggeroli from first and second, giving the Sabercats a 2-0 lead.
It was 3-0 in the fifth when Marruffo knocked a triple into center field, scoring Ruggeroli from first. Marruffo scored on a passed ball, Mario Misuraca struck out but ran to first on a dropped third strike, and Lucas Leifeld capitalized by smashing a two-run homer.
In a matter of moments, a three-run game was 7-0.
"They just woke up, and they dialed in on me, and they started catching up to my fastball," Parrish said.
For Santa Rita, Thursday marked another game without a win, as the Eagles fell to 0-5.
Santa Rita coach Dan Moore pointed to inexperience as his team's major downfall.
"The big thing is we've got so many guys that have never played," said Moore, who is a member of the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame.
Moore said Santa Rita has no junior varsity or freshman teams, and eight current players are ineligible.
"It's horrible," Moore said. "You just can't keep a program going without numbers."
