'That was a total surprise': Scottsdale Christian's 2A baseball title marred by Benson player punch in handshake line

The Arizona Interscholastic Association is looking into an incident that happened in the handshake line following Scottsdale Christian's 6-5 2A baseball championship victory over Benson on Saturday night at Tempe Diablo Stadium.

Video shows that a Benson player punched a Scottsdale Christian player, knocking him to the ground. An SCA player tried to step in to defend his teammate before another punch was thrown. Adults stepped in before it could get worse.

Scottsdale Christian Athletic Director Eric Dall said the player who got punched was doing OK Sunday when he checked in on him.

In the video, it appears that the punch came unprovoked. The Benson first baseman launched a hard punch at the first SCA guy he saw in the handshake line, the video shows.

AIA Executive Director David Hines, who was not at the game, acknowledge in an email Sunday morning that an incident occurred and "a report is expected from Benson and the (Executive) Board."

On Monday, the AIA held its last Executive Board meeting before parting for the summer. Hines said the Benson case was not on the agenda but will be addressed at the next AIA board meeting in August.

Benson Principal Jeff Thompson said he can not provide too much information at this time because it is an ongoing investigation.

"That said, we take acts of physical violence serious and will take the appropriate disciplinary actions as needed," Thompson said in an email.

Benson coach Fred Trujillo said Monday afternoon that he hasn't talked to the player since the punch. He said the player was quickly shuffled away as Trujillo met with SCA coach Tim Salmon.

Trujillo said the player went home with his parents afterwards.

"I think the best thing to do was just to get him out of there," Trujillo said. "You don't know what is going to happen and you don't want the situation to escalate any more."

Trujillo said he thought the player was frustrated, "Because I think he went 0 for 3 at the plate."

"My kids are good kids," Trujillo said. "That was a total surprise."

Salmon said that Benson coaches and officials apologized afterward.

A Benson player came to the aid of the SCA player on the ground moments after the punch took place.

"Crazy ending to an amazing competitive game," Salmon said. "Both teams deserved to win."

Salmon said that parents were discussing after the game whether to press charges.

Salmon said he felt that the Benson first baseman should have been ejected early in the game when he fielded a sacrifice bunt along the first-base line and tagged the batter running to first so hard that he knocked him to the ground.

"All the umps on the field said they would have ejected on the spot but the home plate umpire didn’t," Salmon said. "He seemed unsure of the rules and what to do. The head of the umpires was at the end of the dugout and told the home plate umpire in between innings that it was flagrant and should have been tossed.

"But the kid stuck around and you see what happens. Didn’t have a good game at the plate either so I’m sure his frustrations were high."

The umpires were gone when the incident happened.

Brian Gessner, head of officials for the AIA, said he heard about it but didn't see it, as he was with the umpires.

"Really sad situation," Gessner said.

Trujillo said he hopes this incident doesn't lump all of Benson's athletes in a negative light.

"I apologized to Tim and the AD," Trujillo said. "I told them I'm totally sorry, that it shouldn't have happened.

"I want to apologize to the Scottsdale Christian baseball team, let them know this is not us. I want to apologize to the Scottsdale Christian fan base. This is not depicted of what the program is or what we do at Benson High School."

Dall said that it cast a "dark cloud" over a great game.

"We totally trust they're going to take care of it," Dall said.

Dall said that it's been a healthy competition between the schools. Last year Benson beat SCA for the 2A title.

"We love competing against Benson," Dall said. "We played them in basketball."

At the end of the night, Dall said there was good interaction with the Benson administration, coaches and players.

"Really some cool moments with some of their kids that waited around long after everything wrapped up (Saturday night), shook my hand, congratulated us," Dall said. "There's a lot of talk about this is a reason why you should move away from handshake line. I'd hate to see that happen. You get these opportunities for sportsmanship. It's on us to teach that. It's not your enemy. It's your brother in competition."

1A: Mogollon defeats Bagdad for title.

No. 1 seed Mogollon High won its second championship in the past four years, defeating No. 2 seed Bagdad Saturday in a rematch of the 2019 final by an 8-2 score.

Three of Mogollon's (23-4) four tournament games were won handily, with its closest contest coming in Friday's semifinal against No. 5 Hayden, 2-1.

To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at richard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on Twitter @azc_obert.

Support local journalism: Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: SCA's 2A baseball title marred by Benson player's postgame punch