����Ӱ��AV

– When the Big 12 baseball all-conference awards are announced this week, they are likely to include three Tucson-connected players. ASU junior outfielder Isaiah Jackson of Cienega High School has been ablaze of late, hitting eight home runs in 11 games to raise his batting average to .313 with 16 homers and 64 RBIs through Friday. Sun Devils DH Landon Hairston, son of former Canyon del Oro state championship star and Tucson Sidewinders standout Scott Hairston, is a strong contender for Freshman of the Year. He was hitting .368 through Friday, batting No. 2 in the Sun Devil lineup. Arizona junior shortstop Mason White, hitting .315 with 12 homers and 57 RBIs through Friday, will challenge Utah senior shortstop Core Jackson, batting .353 with 12 homers and 43 RBIs, for first-team shortstop, although it’s also possible the Big 12 will pick 17 or 18 players to its first team as it did for the all-conference softball team, and honor both.

– Arizona’s athletic department plans to hold a celebration of life for late UA athletic director Cedric Dempsey, 1983-93, on the weekend of a yet-to-be-decided home football game this fall. A funeral service for Dempsey, who died April 5 at age 92, will be held June 6 at Morris Chapel in Stockton, Calif., at 11 a.m., followed by a reception from noon-2 p.m. at the DeRosa Center on the University of Pacific campus.

– Kristiana Watson, who tied a Tucson-prep softball record with 17 home runs at Amphitheater High School in 2017, is still playing competitive softball. After playing at ASU and Duke, Watson transferred to New Mexico State this season, where she was an All-Conference USA second team first baseman, hitting .348 with 15 homers and 47 RBIs. Watson has one year of eligibility remaining. Only Tucson High’s Carlie Scupin, 2019, and CDO’s Mattie Fowler, also with 17 home runs, 2011, can match Watson’s prep HR number.

– Salpointe Catholic High School baseball coach Danny Preble, whose No. 1-ranked Class 4A team will play Flagstaff for the state championship Monday night in Phoenix, has become a historic figure in Tucson prep baseball. If the Lancers beat Flagstaff, it will be career victory No. 350 for Preble, a Lancer alumnus who coached Salpointe to the 2019 state title and has finished second three times. As far as I can research, only Tucson High’s Oscar Romero, Palo Verde’s Jim Mentz and CDO/Catalina Foothills coach Jason Hisey have won more baseball games in Tucson prep history.