For the first time in two years the Fountain Hills High School baseball team made a run in the state playoffs and, even though it ended short of the championship, the future seems bright for the program.

The first game of the playoffs was on April 30 against Show Low. The Falcons battled in a close game to pull off a 4-1 victory.

On May 3 Fountain Hills played in a second round game against Payson and won in a much handier fashion, 11-2.

The final game of the Falcons’ postseason was on Saturday, May 4, against Sabino. FHHS fell to their opponents 9-0, bringing their season to a close.

Show Low

Coming off a tough loss to close out their regular season the Falcons’ first playoff game was a good way for the team to start the postseason on new footing.

“It was a great game,” head coach Joe Merklin said. “It was close the whole game and the defense really stepped up and didn’t make any errors.”

Show Low scored first with a run in the bottom of the third but the Falcons answered immediately at their next at bat, scoring two runs.

Jackson Coup was on the mound for the whole game, throwing five strikeouts and holding Show Low to that one run.

The Falcons scored two more runs in the top of the seventh to secure the win.

Payson

If Show Low’s game was a chance for the Fountain Hills baseball to get its bearings back, then their second playoff game was a chance to boost the team’s confidence.

Payson is a team known for its hitting but Elijah Vargas pitched the first six innings for the Falcons and was able to keep the team from connecting, racking up nine strikeouts in the process.

Hunter Reed came in to pitch in the seventh and was able to close the game with two strikeouts.

Of course that wouldn’t mean anything if the Falcons weren’t also getting hits at the plate.

“Everyone that night got some hits,” Merklin said. “Zach Langer, Cole Lupien, Vargas and Quinten Langworthy had some big hits for us at key moments that helped move runners.”

With the Falcons scoring 11 runs to Payson’s two, the team was off to take on Sabino.

Sabino

Going into this third-round outing, Merklin knew his team was going to be tackling an uphill battle.

“(Sabino) is one of the best teams in the league, I wouldn’t be surprised if they went all the way,” Merklin said. “We struggled to hit off their pitcher and they were able to jump ahead.”

Sabino scored their first run in the bottom of the first, but the nail in the coffin came when the team scored seven runs on Fountain Hills in the fourth inning. Sabino added one more run in the fifth to walk away with their 9-0 victory.

Despite not being the ideal ending to the season, Merklin said he is happy with how far his team has come this year.

“It was a fun year and the kids accomplished a lot of what they set out to do,” Merklin said. “If they keep up the hard work that they have shown, then I think the future is pretty bright.”