By Don Ketchum

Dallas Escobedo built quite a pitching resume at Phoenix St. Mary’s High – she had 1,882 career strikeouts, 37 no-hitters and five perfect games. She was the Gatorade Player of the Year for Arizona as a senior and The Arizona Republic’s Big School Player of the Year as a senior and a freshman.

But all good things have to come to an end – Escobedo has moved on to the college level, where she is still mowing ‘em down for Arizona State.

And where does that leave St. Mary’s? Is there life after Dallas?

St. Mary’s coach Bobby Pacheco started thinking about that as early as the middle of the 2010 season.

“After all, you’re talking about the No. 1 pitcher in the country,’’ he said.

Life hasn’t been as easy for the Lady Knights. They were 2-6 after falling 14-3 to Gilbert High in Tuesday’s (March 22) first round of the Desert Mountain Invitational in Scottsdale. They had Wednesday (March 23) off before returning to tournament play on Thursday (March 24) against Mesa High and Chandler Seton Catholic and Friday (March 25) against Gilbert Highland.

Five of St. Mary’s games have come against powerful California schools in another tournament.

“Last year, the kids tended to sit back and watch (Escobedo). Now they have to perform,’’ Pacheco said.

Pacheco is using a junior and a senior as his pitchers and said they are improving.

St. Mary’s has eight letter winners returning, six of them senior starters.

“We told our players at the start of the season – “You’re probably going to run into some walls, and when you do, you are going to have to jump over to the other side,’ ’’ Pacheco said.

“The more we see our team, the better we like them. We’re looking toward the middle of the season. It’s not too far off. If we continue to improve, we are going to be right there in the region (Class 5A Desert Valley) mix.

“And after region, you have the Big Show (state tournament). Once you get there, anything can happen. I think we’re going to be OK.’’