When asked at the start of the season what the goals were for the Patagonia High School baseball team, coach Ryan Shore was cautious about tipping his hand.
The Lobos had taken baby steps over the previous two seasons, from zero wins in 2023 to one in 2024 to two in 2025. Shore knew they were capable of more, but just how much, he wasn’t prepared to say.
So, how does nine wins and a 9-9 record sound? And a berth in the 1A state tournament for the first time in five years?
“I don’t know if I thought we could get to .500, but I definitely thought we could make some big improvements from where we were last year,” Shore said Tuesday, as the Lobos reconvened practice for Saturday’s state tournament game at Williams.
“It means a lot to me, and I hope it means a lot to the players, and especially the seniors who have had three years prior with not a lot of success. Being able to have this kind of success their senior year is awesome.”
Third baseman/pitcher Noah Gallardo and outfielder Miguel Albarran are the two seniors who persevered through three trying seasons to make it this far. Three seasons, three wins, 44 losses.
“It’s amazing, from losing so many games to a .500 season, that’s very impressive,” Gallardo said.
Gallardo was a key factor in the turnaround. He missed the start of the season with an ankle injury suffered during basketball. When healthy enough to return, he slotted into his usual starting position at third base. It wasn’t until April 13, the Lobos’ 13th game of the season, that Shore was able to convince him to take a shot at pitching.
He quickly established himself as the Lobos’ second-most-trusted pitcher, a needed complement to junior ace Kannon Shore.
“I didn’t really want to,” Gallardo said, “but we needed the extra hand. I just went out there and started throwing strikes. I’m starting to like it, but I still like infield better.”
Kannon Shore, Ryan’s son, has been the anchor of the pitching staff, and he was at his best in Patagonia’s regular-season finale, an 8-1 victory at Fort Thomas. Shore limited Fort Thomas to two hits and struck out 14 in a seven-inning complete game.
“It’s crazy going from two wins to state,” Shore said, but he knew the Lobos were capable.
“This team is way different than last year’s team,” he said. “Everybody is really close to each other. Everybody’s friendly; in the dugout, everybody’s loud, we all have each other’s back.”
Gallardo agreed: “We just started to pick each other up. We’ve just been playing baseball and having fun.”
It hasn’t been all fun. Along the way, there have been some big losses: 24-2, 15-0, 18-3. But the Lobos never let those define them.
“You’d think they’d start to lose a little bit of their confidence, or they’d get a little embarrassed or beat down by it, but they never, ever (did),” Ryan Shore said. “They could move on to the next thing, which is a skill. It’s a skill to be able to forget what happened and move forward and still continue to believe and work.”
That, Shore said, is the story of the season.
“It’s been a whole lot of fun,” he said. “I talked to them a lot yesterday and thanked them for being so open to receiving coaching. I am not the easiest person in the world to play for because I want to win, I want them to do the right things, to play the right way.
“They all did a great job of taking constructive criticism and not taking it personally, and that’s a big part of being an athlete. And we had a whole group of kids who did that this year. They were all extremely bought in the whole time, which makes a huge difference.”
Next up is a 350-mile drive for Saturday’s 4 p.m. game against a Williams team with a 17-7 record and No. 4 ranking in Class 1A.
Shore acknowledges that the Lobos will be a “huge underdog,” but they’ve earned the right to take on the challenge — not by just “squeaking in” to the state tournament
“We’re actually a team that deserves to be there,” he said. “And I believe if we play well we can play with a lot of these teams. We haven’t done it yet, but I believe we can.”