With a young team that features a lot of new players, Sedona Red Rock High School softball coach John Parks said that the Scorpions try not to scoreboard watch throughout games, but focus more on getting better. If the SRRHS team looked at the scoreboard during its game against Glendale Prep Academy on Tuesday, March 30, it would have looked good. 

Sedona went into the game shorthanded, with only 9 of 11 active players. But what the Scorpions lacked in depth they made up for in production, defeating the Griffins 19-4. 

“I think we all played really well,” Sedona third baseman, freshman Citlali Perez said. “For the short amount of time that we’ve all had practice, we all played really well.”

Naturally, in a 19-4 game, the winning team will have many standout performers. The Scorpions had that. Sophomore second baseman Mayra Parra-Landaverde hit a ball into the right-center field gap and took full advantage of the deep fences at Glendale Prep’s stadium, rounding the bases for an inside-the-park home run. Sophomore catcher Annalee Dearden also hit a triple. 

Dearden also caught, which is still a relatively new position for her. Her father, like her, was a baseball third baseman around the same age and moved to catcher when a teammate got hurt. A similar scenario happened with Dearden when regular catcher, senior Lesly Suarez, was hit in the eye with a ball while warming up before the season’s first game with Northland Prep. Dearden was thrust into the catcher role then and caught against the Griffins, as well. 

She enjoys the position and her coach is impressed with how she’s handled it. 

“Annalee is doing a phenomenal job as our catcher,” Parks said. “She hasn’t really played it before but she’s just doing a great job.” 

Scoring runs is one thing but in softball, preventing them is just as important. That responsibility fell on senior pitcher Bella Horton and the defense behind her. While there were errors, leading to unearned runs, Parks also praised a 4-6-3 double play that the Scorpions turned in the first inning. 

Dearden also lauded Horton’s performance on the mound.

“Bella did really good — there were no crazy pitches,” Dearden said. “She’s really improved in the past couple weeks working with coach. She’s gotten her speed up. There are no crazy balls up here or low balls. She’s around the strike zone or in the strike zone.”

The win over the Griffins was only the second game of the season for the Scorpions. Given how young the team is and how few players have softball experience, winning a game early in the season does carry extra importance. 

Perez didn’t feel so, noting that she’s focusing more on how well she improves every day. Dearden, though, felt that games like that could be a sign of what could be coming for the program over the next 2-3 years.

“I think it really sets the bar for what the next couple of years is going to be like,” she said. “It makes other girls want to come out for Sedona, as it’s not really popular here in Sedona. But I really like everybody’s enthusiasm and I think we’ll see more of that in the coming years with underclassmen.”