In the short existence of O’Connor varsity baseball, this year’s team had reached its farthest ever in the state playoffs.



OHS was the No. 10 seed and faced the seventh-seeded Desert Ridge at Desert Ridge. The game was back and forth until junior Adrian Ramirez hit a two run homer in the fifth, igniting the offense and giving OHS its first playoff win.



“The homerun was cool,” said Ramirez. “It was really helpful to the team because it gave us a win over Desert Ridge.”

OHS then traveled to Papago Park to suffer a heart breaking loss of 15-4 to Paradise Valley

.

Because the state tournament was a double-elimination style tournament the Eagles’ season wasn’t over with just quite yet.



The Eagles were then lined up to play San Luis at Maryvale sports complex, the spring training facility of the Milwaukee Brewers. The game ended with a 7-0 victory. Junior Josh Moody threw a gem, pitching a complete game shut-out.

“It felt really good throwing against San Luis,” said Moody. “It’s good to know that my catcher and I could carry our team with our backs against the wall.”

Following the San Luis victory, the Eagles traveled to the Tempe Diablo Stadium, which is the spring training stadium for the L.A. Angels

of Anaheim.

It looked as if the strong season was going to near an end against the No. 3-seeded Sunnyside. OHS took the lead out of the gates, getting a three run lead. Sunnyside eventually tied it and in the top of the seventh, OHS scored two runs to win, 5-3. Sophomore Nick Carillo started his first game of the year against Sunnyside.

“When coach told me I was throwing I was pretty amped,” Carillo said. “The game was pretty intense and it was great upsetting the best-hitting team we faced all year.”

Following the close Sunnyside victory OHS went on to play Paradise Valley again. OHS again got off to a quick lead, 3-0. Then PV scored nine unanswered runs, crushing the Eagles’ confidence. The Eagles did not quit, scoring two runs in the sixth and three runs in the final inning to lose another heartbreaker by one run.

“It was a tough loss,” said junior Jimmy Dunham. “We really proved ourselves in the postseason because no one expected us to get so far.”

The Eagles fought tough all year and came together at the perfect time.

“We worked really hard all year long,” said Assistant Coach Dan Weber. “It was bound to catch up to us soon.”

Next year, the Eagles hope to surpass this year’s run with a legitimate shot at winning a state

championship.

“We have to play every game throughout the season as if everyone is after us,” Moody said. “We have a giant target on our backs and we need to prove that we are a tough enough to take it.”