The rivalry between Canyon del Oro and Salpointe has been mostly one-sided with the Lancers taking control of the series after the Dorados beat Salpointe three times in 2017, including a 7-0 victory in the semifinal round that year that led to the ninth state championship for the Dorados. At that time, Salpointe only had two state championship trophies, and those were won a few generations before in 1993 and 1996. Now, Salpointe has eight state titles with championships in 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. Only COVID prevented another in 2020.

That record setting run of six in a row included a 14-3 record against the Dorados including a 10-7 win over CDO in the 2022 state championship game and an 11-0 win last year. This year, Canyon del Oro competes in the 5A Conference and Salpointe in the 4A Conference so there will be no playoff battles but the two power programs met again Tuesday night in a “freedom” game at Salpointe and the Dorados came out on top 3-1 in eight innings. Salpointe (7-2 in ranking games) came in ranked No. 2 in the 4A Conference and Canyon del Oro (10-0) was No. 2 at the 5A level. The contest is expected to bolster the position of both programs and they are both in the odd position of hoping the other goes undefeated the rest of the regular season to secure the best possible position heading into the state playoffs based on power points.

Dorado ace Amelia Streuber (13-2) picked up 17 strikeouts in the game for the win but the Lancers took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second after senior Leylani Cuesta reached second base on an infield error, reached third on a passed ball, and then scored on a double from Izzy Soto with no outs. Streuber recovered with three straight strikeouts to strand Soto at second base.

The lead help up until the top of the fifth, with Macee Jackson (7-3) limiting the Dorados to two hits until Kayla Hendrix singled to lead off the inning and Sammy Hudgens knocked her in one out later to tie the game at 1-1. Jackson got out of the jam and the game remained 1-1 until the top of the eighth.

Molly Herman came up with a leadoff single and then Taya Kelly followed with another hit to put two on. Both runners advanced on a passed ball but Soli Ramos tracked down a shot to right field to keep the runners from scoring. Adriana Machado came up and singled to center field on a difficult defensive play to score Herman. Streuber put down a sacrifice bunt to score Kelly to make it 3-1.

The Lancers had a shot in the bottom half of the inning with Sarah Camp reaching with one out on a hit-by-pitch but Streuber picked up her 17th strikeout and then a pop up ended the game.

Hudgens went 2-4 with an RBI and Kelly went 2-4. Streuber had her 17 strikeouts and she also added an RBI at the plate for the Dorados. Jackson had seven strikeouts for the Lancers. Isabel Otero, Soto and Camp had doubles and Soto had an RBI.

Canyon del Oro hosts No. 28 Vista Grande (2-7) on April 9 and Salpointe hosts No. 42 Sahuaro (0-9) on the same night.

NOTE:

The Dorados were playing for sophomore pitcher Jacey Mazura (4-0) who has been hospitalized for a week with an unknown illness and she made an appearance in the CDO dugout before the game in a wheelchair with an IV to meet her teammates for a few moments. Mazura returned to the hospital before the game got underway.