• The Santa Cruz Little League 8-10 Year Olds defeated Douglas 14-8 to win the District 8 championship on Monday night in Benson. Photo by Dave Lumia
  • Santa Cruz celebrates after Owen Thomas caught a fly ball for the final out. Photo by Dave Lumia
  • Coach Evan Raley rallies the troops after Santa Cruz fell behind 8-5. Photo by Dave Lumia
  • Jax Raley slides home to score on a wild pitch in the third inning. Photo by Dave Lumia
  • Chato Padilla delivers a pitch in the final inning. Photo by Dave Lumia
  • Second baseman Jhett Hubbell throws to first base to retire a Douglas batter. Photo by Dave Lumia
  • Santa Cruz fans whoop it up as the team closes in on the district title. Photo by Dave Lumia
  • Chato Padilla throws to first to retire a Douglas batter. Photo by Dave Lumia
  • Santa Cruz starting pitcher Brantley Orona delivers a pitch in the first inning. Photo by Dave Lumia
  • Hatley Matthews takes first base after drawing a walk to lead off the sixth inning. Photo by Dave Lumia
  • Jhett Hubbell prepares to throw out a Douglas batter in the fifth inning. Photo by Dave Lumia
  • Third baseman Hatley Matthews throws across the diamond to record an out. Photo by Dave Lumia
  • Coach Evan Raley fires up the team as they enter the final inning with a 9-8 lead. Photo by Dave Lumia

The Santa Cruz Little League 8-10-Year-Old All Stars entered the District 8 tournament in Benson with the bare minimum number of players needed to field a team and modest expectations.

“We set out a goal to win one game in this tournament,” said Aaron Thomas, Santa Cruz assistant coach and league president.

Santa Cruz won not just one game but five to claim the district championship and advance to the state tournament. Santa Cruz battled back in the loser’s bracket to claim the title, defeating Douglas twice: 7-6 on July 3 and 14-8 on Monday night.

“The boys got some confidence and they just got better and better every game,” Thomas said. “They played with a lot of heart.”

Santa Cruz and its never-say-die roster of nine players from Sonoita, Elgin and Patagonia will face Flagstaff in the opening round of the double-elimination state championship on Thursday at 5pm at the Stone Complex in Sierra Vista, 3324-3598 E. Tahoma Street.

The road to the state tournament included victories over teams from Willcox, Sierra Vista, Benson and Douglas, all of which can draw from a much deeper pool of players to assemble their rosters. Santa Cruz’s roster included every eligible player in the league from the 8-10 age group. But that’s an improvement over recent years, when the league did not have enough players for the district tourney.

“We showed up with what we had,” Santa Cruz head coach Evan Raley said.

Monday’s championship game started poorly for Santa Cruz, as Douglas capitalized on some fielding miscues to take a 5-0 lead after two innings.

Santa Cruz fought back for five runs in the top of the third, taking advantage of three walks, three wild pitches and a run-scoring single by Hatley Matthews to even the score, but Douglas responded with three runs in the bottom of the inning to regain an 8-5 lead. That’s where the score remained with two innings to play.

“We’ve got a lot of inexperienced players mostly, kids who have never been in that position before,” Raley said. “A couple of our key players made mistakes early on, but the beautiful thing was they were the ones that came through at the end.”

After keeping Douglas scoreless for the first time in the bottom of the fourth, a re-energized Santa Cruz team began chipping away in the top of the fifth. Ty Peterson and Atlas Bohm started things off by drawing walks, and Peterson came around to score on a groundout by Jhett Hubbell.

Hayes Thomas also walked, and Brantley Orona’s groundout scored Bohm to bring Santa Cruz within one. Jax Raley doubled to left to score Thomas and tie the game, and Chato Padilla followed with a single to right to give Santa Cruz a 9-8 lead.

Padilla came on to pitch in the bottom of the inning and held Douglas scoreless, and Santa Cruz broke the game open in the top of the sixth, scoring all five of its runs with two outs. Matthews, Hubbell and Thomas all reached on walks. After a Douglas error brought home one run, Raley and Padilla followed with back-to-back two-run singles to make it 14-8.

Padilla then retired the side in order in the bottom of the inning, and Santa Cruz was state championship bound.

Santa Cruz’s road to state began with a 9-4 victory over Willcox on June 25, followed by a 5-4 win over Sierra Vista three days later. A 17-16 loss to Douglas on July 1 knocked Santa Cruz into the loser’s bracket, but it battled back with an 8-7 win over San Pedro Valley to get a second and third shot at Douglas.

“Very remarkable,” Thomas said. “It’s been a fun ride these past couple of weeks.”

The District 8 champions roster includes Brantley Orona, Jax Raley, Chato Padilla, Owen Thomas, Hatley Matthews, Ty Peterson, Atlas Bohm, Jhett Hubbell and Hayes Thomas.