MESA – Douglas’ 13-14 year old All-Stars continued to cruise at the state Little League Juniors tournament Tuesday beating the Santa Rita All-Stars of Tucson 5-3 for their fourth straight win.

Samuel Wright was the winning pitcher going five and a third innings and giving up three runs off two hits while fanning five and walking five.

Roy Aguirre threw one and two-thirds innings in relief giving up no runs off three hits while fanning five.

Miles Granados run in the top of the first gave Douglas a quick 1-0 lead.

Rufino Salinas scored in the third and Jason Sanez in the fourth as the Douglas All-Stars padded their lead to 3-0.

Esteban Daniel and Jorge Escalante each scored in the fifth giving Douglas a 5-0 lead.

Santa Rita scored all three of its runs in the bottom of the fifth pulling within two.

Xavier Altamirano hit 2 for 3 for Douglas. Granados and Escalante each were 1 for 2, Sanez and Luis Barrios each were 1 for 3 and Aguirre was 1 for 1.

Eliseo Daniel, manager for the Douglas All-Stars, said this was not one of his team’s better games.

“We should have blown this game wide open,” he said. “And we didn’t do that “

The coach said his team didn’t play up to its potential and errors allowed Santa Rita to hang around making the game much closer than what it should have been.

“It’s a win and I’ll take it,” the coach said. “These kids know they can play better.”

The win was the fourth straight for Douglas at the state tournament and the eighth straight win since the District 8 tournament in Douglas two weeks ago.

The 13-14 year old All-Stars are off today before taking on High Desert, the other unbeaten team in their pool, Thursday at 7:30.

Thursday’s game should have ended pool play for Douglas but Monday’s rainout with Prescott has been pushed back to Friday at 5:30 pushing the entire tournament back one day.

The Douglas All-Stars are in good shape to advance to the championship round needing to win one of the two remaining game in order to secure themselves a spot in the semi-finals on Saturday.

Majors top Payson 10-7

At the state Little League Majors tournament in Flagstaff Douglas’ 11-12 year old All-Stars got back on the winning track beating Payson’s All-Stars 10-7.

Details from the game are sketchy as Douglas coaches failed to get stats into The Douglas Dispatch by deadline.

Nick Ortega was the winning pitcher and hit a grand slam in a seven run fourth that saw Douglas erase a three run deficit.

Bryan Lomeli threw an inning and two-thirds in relief.

Kirt Cormier’s two run home run in the bottom of the first gave Douglas a quick 2-0 lead.

Payson came back with four runs in the top of the third to go up 4-2

Payson led 6-3 going into the bottom of the fourth when the Douglas All-Stars rallied for seven runs taking a 10-6 lead.

The Douglas All-Stars are back in action tonight taking on High Desert tonight at 7 p.m  On Thursday Douglas closes out pool play taking on Arrowhead in a 4 p.m. game.