TEMPE — No thriller was required on Saturday afternoon.
After winning in dramatic, walk-off fashion in each of the first three rounds of the state playoffs, third-seeded Canyon del Oro posted a double-digit blowout of No. 1 Glendale Cactus at Tempe Diablo Stadium. The Dorados pounded out 19 hits en route to a 15-5 4A-I state championship victory.
"We've already had too many close games in this run," said senior Doug Steele, the Dorados' 6-foot-4-inch, 225-pound designated hitter in the title game who went 3 for 5 with six RBIs. "It was about time to show that we are a powerhouse. CDO is a dynasty, and we wanted to show that off."
It was Dorados' first state championship since 2002, when CDO was a member of the 5A, and it was Southern Arizona's first 4A title since Douglas in 2001.
"If we played (Cactus) 10 times, there might be one score either way like this and the rest would be dogfights," said CDO coach Len Anderson, who claimed his first title. "That was a really good team we played."
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Thirty years ago to the month CDO's third baseman/pitcher Ryan Retz's father Bobby Retz claimed a state title for the Dorados in the same stadium.
"We'll be talking about that at the dinner table tonight, I'm sure," said Ryan Retz, who has committed to play for Pima College.
The Dorados' onslaught started early and was spurred by two first-inning defensive blunders from the Cobras.
With one out in the first, CDO's Alan Drake topped a ground ball that went through the legs of Cactus shortstop Colton Vaughn. Three pitches later, Retz drilled another grounder at Cobras' second baseman Skylar Maestas, the ball skipping under his glove and into the outfield. To make matters worse, the Cactus center fielder lost track of the ball as it rolled deep into the right-center alley, allowing Retz to come all the way around to score on the four-base error.
CDO (24-7) continued the onslaught in the second, plating four runs including RBI singles from Steele and first baseman Hayden Cota-Robles.
"We knew their pitching was good, but they're still high school pitchers so they're going to make mistakes," said Cota-Robles, a junior who went 4-for-5 with two doubles. "We just turned the mistakes around."
By the end of the third, the Dorados owned a 9-0 lead after Steele came through with his second run-scoring base hit in as many frames, this single plating two.
Cactus sliced the deficit to five by scoring four times in the bottom half of the inning, using a Retz throwing error that occurred while trying to cut down a runner scoring from third on an infield chopper, making it 9-4.
But that was as close as the scoreboard would read.
Retz relieved starting right hander Bubba Metz with one-out in the fifth and proceeded to throw 2 2/3 scoreless innings to close out the win.
Leading 10-5 entering the seventh, the Dorados iced the contest by scoring five more runs including a bases-loaded, bases-clearing RBI double from Steele, followed immediately by an RBI double from Cota-Robles before catcher Corey Fujimoto drove in the final run with a single.
"Canyon del Oro has had a nice program for a long time down in Tucson. You look at their lineup cards, and you see a list of all of their current major leaguers," said Cactus coach Mike Tirella, referring to posting of CDO alumni Ian Kinsler, Scott Hairston and the Duncan brothers among others on the back of the Dorados' lineup sheets.
"They have quite a tradition out there."
