It’s official: Keith’s a Cat!

With tears of joy welling up in his eyes and his family surrounding him, there were two images of the past standing out most for Nogales High School’s Keith Zuniga:

1.) His father waking him up on Saturday mornings at some God-awful hour to throw the ball around.

2.) His junior high baseball coach, Juan Morales, cutting him from the A-team in his seventh-grade year.

It was those two things that likely most drove the 6-foot, 170-pound right-hander to where he was Thursday afternoon�”signing a national letter of intent to pitch for the University of Arizona Wildcats’ baseball team when he graduates from NHS in May. He will receive tuition and course-related books, and only have to pay for his dorm and meals.

“Ever since I was a little kid, I wanted to be Wildcat,” said Zuniga, who currently holds a 3.2 grade point average as a senior at NHS but is not yet sure what his major will be in college. “Those were tears of joy there. It just says that there is no magic out there. Anything is possible if you work hard enough. You just have to do what you need to do.”

That includes those early weekend wakeups.

“There are not many dads that wake up their kids,” Zuniga said. “Usually it’s the kids that wake up the dad �- but it showed me that I need to push myself. If you want it, you have to go get it. Good things happen when you work to get them.”

Good things have also happened recently to Alex Wodka, who signed to play soccer with the University of New Mexico last year. Along with her, Zuniga is believed to be the second Apache to sign with a Div. I school since Robert Bonillas signed to play football for U of A in the mid-1990s, according to NHS Athletic Director Tim Colgate. Before that, Colgate said you might have to look back to the ’70s and Gil Heredia to find a Div. I scholarship straight out of Apache Nation.

“Regardless, it a huge accomplishment,” Colgate said. “It is really something to be proud of.”

Zuniga, however, didn’t feel so proud when he got cut from his middle school team. It did, though, give him something more valuable than playing time.

“If you only knew how much that fueled my fire and it pushed me to get better the following year,” he said.

His current coach at NHS, O.J. Favela Jr., is now fanning those same flames.

“We knew he was going to be a quality pitcher, but we didn’t know he was going to be that type of go-to kid right away his junior year,” Favela said. “We have a good chance of winning with him on the mound, no matter who we are playing against in the state.”

That was apparent last season when Zuniga was undefeated in 9 outings as a starter�”seven of which were complete games, including a 9-1 victory over Agua Fria High School in the first round of the state playoffs.

Overall, he was on the mound in 14 games, threw 65 innings and gave up 17 runs (14 of which were earned), 42 hits and 25 walks, but struck out 71 batters on his way to a 1.42 ERA.

It earned him All-Regional 1st Team honors, along with Arizona Daily Star 2nd team honors.

As a sophomore, Zuniga was All-Regional Honorable Mention and named Most Improved Player by the school program.

With the accolades piling up, Zuniga’s mother, Marcella, said she can’t be happier.

“It’s a dream come true,” she said. “Every parent wants the best for their child, and we’ve been blessed with three very special children�”Keith being one of them.

“But Keith has had two big contributing factors from up above,” she added. “His grandmother Consuelo Zuniga and his grandfather Cosme Felix (who passed away in 1987 and 1993, respectively) are with him. We know that they are big angels from up above that are guiding and helping him.”

The help from his father Eddie has also been priceless.

“We knew we had something special that one game in Little League,” explained Eddie. “There was a fly ball when he was a second baseman �- and he made a spectacular catch. From then on, we knew we had something special.”

It is anticipated that Keith will also do something special in his senior season with the 2010 Apaches baseball team. He is expected to be the ace in the hole, while Juan Vega, Robert Gonzales and Jacob Romo add to the rotation.

When it comes to his freshman season with the Wildcats, it’s anybody’s guess, but, “As hard as he throws and the caliber of baseball he’s played �- I’m confident that he can go in there and pick up some innings for them right away,” Favela said.

Zuniga, though, says he will likely give up football in college, despite throwing for about 2,300 yards, 28 touchdowns and 13 interceptions this season, which ended Saturday in a 51-14 state playoff loss to Cienega.

Last football season, Zuniga also threw for nearly 2,300 yards and 28 TDs with only 8 interceptions, and was the top passer in yardage in the state. It was unclear at press time who was the top yardage passer in the state for 2009, but Zuniga, as usual, was at least in the front of the pack.