Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 119

10 Te Arlom Republic Friday. April 24, IWI flllnl Believing in teammates is key for Mountain Lions E33JAC03SEN Special for The Republic Luck leads I i i .1 infielder to Antelopes Cody Ransom admits it was "real scary" two years ago when the South Mountain Community College van he was riding in toppled over on Interstate 10 and took the lives of two baseball teammates, Tommy Eaton and Junior Stell. "I came out of it OK," he said. "I got -lucky. Oh, I had a few injuries.

I had stitches in my knee, arm and shoulder, and I jarred my shoulder real bad. But I'm OK." Lucky is an apt description. Ransom went through a window, and after the accident, he found himself standing outside the van on that same window. "I had a cell phone with me, and I immediately called my parents," he said. "They only live about 15, 20 minutes from where the accident occurred.

My dad came right away." Today, Ransom plays shortstop for a Grand Canyon University team that is well on its way to winning the Western Athletic Conference Northern Division and qualifying for the WAC The Antelopes are 21-20 overall and 9-10 in the conference after dropping a three-game series against Hawaii. In a doubleheader sweep before that, against -Brigham Young, Ransom's sixth home run of the year was huge. With this academic year being the first that Mountain Ridge High School has a senior class, Coach Kevin Schmitt is trying to provide a season to remember for his Mountain Lions baseball team. I 1 Photos by Peter SchwepkerThe Arizona Republic Coach preaches keeping faith of 19 consecutive scoreless innings, which included a 1-0 win over Farming-ton, N.M., the No. 1 -rated team in New Mexico, and 4-0 victory over No.

9 Desert Mountain. He has a .389 batting average as well. Junior Jose Virgil, a catcher-infielder, has improved defensively, and he leads the team in home runs (3), slugging percentage (.909) and batting average Leadoff hitter Chris Duffy, the center fielder, is hitting .341. With the playoffs approaching, Schmitt is reinforcing a few of the goals the team set before the season. "One was to get better every day, each week," he said.

"If we continue to do that, our chances are good in the postseason. That's the mind-set for us, to get better each week. We didn't do that last year; the faith wasn't there. We started turning on each other, and we didn't have faith. "That's what this game is about, faith.

Everybody has talent. It's coming together and believing in what you're By Jim Gintonio The Arizona Republic It has taken only a little more than a year and some jokesters would say that's how lorn; it takes to play a high school baseball game for the Mountain Ridge team to establish itself as one of the state's elite. The Mountain Lions 14-4) are in Class 5A this season after a stint in Class 4A. This is the first year the school has had a senior class, and Coach Kevin Schmitt is trying to help make it a season to remember. The success is nice but not necessarily a surprise, Schmitt said.

"We've been together a few years now, and we're not caught up in the 4A-5 thing," Schmitt said. "We've had these same kids all along, and now it's paying off. "Other coaches have mentioned that they think we're doing a good job over here. As far as our success, they knew we were coming. They saw us at the JV level and again last year.

I think they put us up there with Deer Valley. Ironwood, Desert Mountain and the other top teams." Mountain Ridge is ranked seventh in the state, getting the job done with a lot of underclassmen. But as in every new program, it takes a while for wrinkles to get ironed out. "We struggle with things every day," Schmitt said. "We talk about the three F's: building a foundation, having faith in yourself, the coaches and your teammates and that's what's hurting us, and we're still working on that.

The other one is hav ing fun. "When things get tough, we talk about having faith. You tend to go back to the way you did things before, not how things are being done here. Sometimes we are our own worst enemy. We've come this far, so there should be no more questions.

Faith will be the determining factor in how far we go, if we have faith in each other." A number of players have key roles for the Mountain Lions. Junior right-hander Jered Liebeck, who also plays the outfield, had a streak The hardest-working team' "This is the hardest-working team I've ever played on," said Ransom, who was a standout at Chandler High School four years ago. "I knew in the fall we were going to turn things around (after two straight losing seasons). "We were not going to let that happen again (another losing campaign). I can't stand losing, and a lot of these guys can't." Ransom's route to Grand Canyon was circuitous, to say the least.

After Chandler, where he played for Jeff Mason and Mike Johnson, he attended South Mountain for, two years and played under George Lopez. "Coach Lopez helped me out a ton," Ransom said. "I think I improved tremendously under him, both on and off the field." Then came a scholarship to Mesa State (Colo.) and supposedly full financial aid. But it never came. "The coach there lied to me," Ransom said.

"He said they just ran out of money. I )- Schmitt sees lots of potential in this year's squad, now in Class 5A. A lot of stuff happened there, and I lost all JUCOS 178 148 164 138 107 128 157 147 142 148 92 100 72 60 66 55 42 50 61 57 55 57 35 38 Baseball BATTING AVERAGE C. Wallace. Cant AZ M.

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51 88 68 91 80 73 S3 79 65 68 AVO. .495 .476 .456 .455 .449 .440 .439 .439 433 .433 ab 103 185 149 200 178 166 189 180 150 157 Tfiats the spirit tf Iri respect for him. But Ransom's numbers were good at Mesa State, despite his situation. He hit .376 with 12 home runs. That interested Utah Coach Tim Esmay, but Mesa State would not release him at that time.

M. Wombachar, Yav. 12 If Transfer comes through j. cowan, so. Mtn 78 Then, while playing in the Arizona zdSSSpXS Summer Collegiate League, he ran into Grand Canyon volunteer assistant Scott Potrament, Cent AZ 56 runs scored Snyder through Lopez.

One thing led to another, and Ransom later was allowed to is transfer to the west phoenix campus. asedwrm 52 "Everything happens for a reason," j. cowan, so. Mtn 22 Ransom said. tiapS'Sl" An(l Ransom's reasons are these: He's ItiSwth1 19 P'ay'n8 a stalwart shortstop and hitting triples .352.

He leads the team in hits (56), runs I (48) and doubles (15), is tied for third in stolenbases home mns (six) and has 32 RBIs- csCown-saMtn 37 "This team is all about attitude," Ran- 32 som said. "I think these guys' pride was hurt last year. Everybody just got sick of losing. We know we've got a good pro- Softball gram here." batting average Ransom, 22, says that when he was 1 6 oewm. East az 147 71 483 and obtaining his first driver's license, he 2Te2lz IS 11 lit was 5 feet 5- 125 Pounds.

Today he's 6-2, Leon', cent az 143 so .420 85 and still trying to put on weight. L. Deford. Pima 143 59 .413 j. Fnncis.

East az ioi 41 .408 "I knew I had to get stronger, he said, Jl Scnn.cSntAAz iS Sf "and I eat all the time. But I have a hard cSntcSntAZ i2o 46 time putting on more weight. I must burn J. Welsh. Phoenix 115 44 it all off." Natvidad.

Pima 138 52 .377 t. Acuna. az west 157 49 .376 Ransom, of course, hopes to play pro- S0SSnsMm 115 43 J74 fessionally, and after being drafted out of South Mountain by Cleveland, he has Leon, cent az talked to eight or nine teams, he said. b'eSVz "it's always been my dream," he said. r5on.

cent az "My grandpa played for the St Louis Car- l. Leon, cent az 9 dinals and New York Yankees in the 1940s Sfrwtfi, AZ Wast. ..34 ij Dimes. pna 33 as a middle infielder. Ransom, who's always played shortstop, said his Chandler Hieh teams were good, H- uernal.

Lent Dewitt East AZ 53 we jUSt dldn Win. I Ransom brother. Troy, now plays at 14 South Mountain, so his parents were glad pna.pm to see Codv return to the Valley, where L. Lton, Cflnt AZ ....13 Baa. East az is they can catch more of his games.

So was 13 his grandmother. "She even went to Colorado to see me," Det East az he said, "and she alw ay anted me to stolen ases come back. She didn't miss many of my games before my grandpa passed away, F-i10? "Tv 5 and now she goes to all of them." Dawm. East AZ 37 Couorian, iert. 29 RECREATION CALENDAR Baseball NATIONAL BASEBALL CONGRESS SUMMER LEAGUE: For ages 18 and older.

Seeking players, complete teams, fields, umpires, scorers, coaches and sponsors. 946-1 599. Basketball TEMPE SUMMER PROGRAMS: Separate programs for boys and girls in Grades 1-12. Registration is May 1-22, and program runs June 8 to July 23. Cost $25 for Grades 1-8; $18 for Grades 9-12.

350-5200. CHARU TURNER THORNE GIRLS CAMP: Ages 8-18 at Arizona State University's Activity Center. Day camp, June 4-6; team camp, June 13-16; individual camp. June 17-20; "elite" camp, Aug. 3-6.

965-6086. Bicycling ARIZONA BIKE CLUB: Meets at 6 a.m. every Sunday at Granada Park, 20th Street and Maryland Avenue. 264-5478. Duauifon COTTONWOOD FAT TIRE: Includes long and short courses in Cottonwood on May 24.

(520) 526-7861. Golf SATURDAY LEAGUE: Provides for experienced golfers to play weekly at various golf courses. Call 956-1690. Hockey RANDY EXELBY GOALIE SCHOOL: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

July 6-10 and Jury 13-17 at Oceanside Ice Arena. $325 for one week. $550 for two. 412-3377. ROADRUNNERS SUMMER CAMP: July 27-31 and Aug.

3-7 at Oceanside Ice Arena. Male and female, all ages. $279 for players. $109 for goalies and $1 99 for adults. 947-2470.

Running COTTONWOOO VERDE MINGUS BLOWOUT: 8 a.m. Saturday at Riverfront Park, Cottonwood. 1 0K run and 2-miie fun run. (520) 445-7221. ZANE GREY HIGHUNE TRAIL 50-MILE RUN: 5 am Saturday Pne.

$40; S50 day of race. 266-7175. WHISKEY ROW MARATHON: May 2 at Prescott Courthouse. Includes marathon, half marathon, 1 0K and two-mle fun run. Cost ranges from $10 to S20 (520) 445-7221 SBJGMAN ROUTE 66 5K: 7 am.

May 2 in Seogman. (5201 422-4458. CISCO DE MAYO 10K: May 3 at Chofla High School Tucson. (5201 326-9383. RURALMETRO NIGHT RUN FOR THE ARTS: May 9 at Scoftsdaie Center for the Arts.

8K run. 5K family fttress walk. 1-miie fun rurVwa. art stro. corporate challenoe.

$15 jetereya2T8atter703 The Deer Valley High School spirit Pne recently won its fourth straight national title with a comeback victory. The team, coached by VTcki Jones, also has won the past five Arizona championships after two straight second-place finishes. The national crown is almost expected at Deer Valley, winner of seven of the past eight titles..