SUNSET REGION: Centennial empties bag of tricks, advances to title game

The offensive numbers Centennial’s softball team has put up this season have been staggering.

The Bulldogs belted 135 extra-base hits, including 44 homers, and scored 343 runs in their first 35 games of the season.

And on Thursday, Centennial faced an opponent it had beaten handily twice this season. Yet it took nearly every little ball trick in the Bulldogs’ arsenal to advance to the Sunset Region title game.

Centennial scored two runs on an attempted double steal and three more on sacrifices en route to a 6-3 win over Shadow Ridge in the winners’ bracket final at Bishop Gorman.

“Sometimes the long ball isn’t going to be there,” Centennial coach Mike Livreri said. “We were fortunate to scrape enough runs across.”

Centennial (29-7) withstood a bases-loaded threat with one out in the seventh to advance to the Sunset final at 9 a.m. Saturday at Gorman. Should they need it, the Bulldogs will have two chances to win and advance to the state tournament.

Whatever happens Saturday, it likely won’t be as bizarre.

The Bulldogs took the lead for good in the first inning on a pair of bloop singles and three errors, the middle one allowing both Mia Acuna and Savannah Horvath to score on an attempted double steal.
Horvath attempted to steal second, and when the throw went to the middle of the diamond, Acuna broke from third. The return throw home sailed wide, and Horvath never stopped running, coming all the way around to score.

After the Mustangs (17-10) cut the lead to 2-1 in the top of the fourth, Centennial cashed in on two doubles — their only extra-base hits of the game — and another Shadow Ridge error to score three times in the bottom of the inning.

Bailie Nelson’s sacrifice bunt was misplayed, allowing Lacie Chakos to score from second. After an RBI double by pinch-hitter Lauren Stroman, Acuna hit a sacrifice fly to center to plate Lexie Morales.
Horvath added a sacrifice fly in the sixth. Entering Thursday’s games, the Bulldogs had a total of 22 sacrifice flies and sacrifice bunts all year.

“We got under some balls,” Livreri said. “Their pitcher kept us off-balance enough. Tip your hat to her.”

Shadow Ridge, though, never went away, scoring twice in the fifth and stranding two runners in scoring position in the sixth before loading the bases with one out in the seventh.

Taylor Huntly then came on in relief and got a 1-2-3 double play from the only batter she faced to end the game.

“She’s a ground ball pitcher,” Livreri said. “Luckily we dialed it up. It’s a tough one to turn, but we turned it.”

Nelson, Horvath and Heather Bowen each had two hits for Centennial.

Taylor Velarde and Danette Daguiar each had two hits for Shadow Ridge, which will face either Palo Verde (25-10) or Arbor View (23-5) at 5 p.m. Friday at Gorman in the losers’ bracket final.

Palo Verde 8, Bishop Gorman 1 — At Legacy, Breanna Beatty went 3-for-4 with a triple, a double, an RBI and a run as the Panthers used a balanced scoring attack to eliminate the Gaels (24-6-1).

Palo Verde will face Arbor View at 3 p.m. Friday at Gorman.

Rachel Williams supplied a triple, three RBIs and two runs, and freshman teammate Mackenzie McBride notched two hits and two runs to lead the Panthers.

“We hit the ball pretty hard today,” Palo Verde coach Kelly Glass said. “We were finding holes today, and that was the difference.”

Miranda Robles provided an RBI single in the first inning for the Gaels, who got two hits from Shelby Estocado.

Arbor View 4, Desert Oasis 1 — At Legacy, Kristina Billante belted a two-out, three-run triple off the right field wall to break a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the fifth inning to help the Aggies eliminate the Diamondbacks (16-18).

Arbor View’s Dacia Sykes led off the fifth with a bloop single that dropped just beyond shortstop, and advanced to second with a single up the middle by Brionna Santovito. One out later, a walk to Ashlyn Ames loaded the bases for Billante, who ripped a 1-2 pitch to clear the bases.

“I just knew I had to wait for my pitch, and it was going to come,” Billante said. “I just had to be patient. It didn’t matter if I had two strikes, I just knew my pitch was going to come, and it did. It was just a little inside and I just turned on it.”

Chelsa Baca earned the win in the circle, allowing no earned runs, scattering six hits, with three strikeouts.

Karli Lehr was 2-for-3 with a triple and two runs for Arbor View.

Emily Heinz, Lenzi Cram, and Shanda Badayos each supplied two hits to lead the Diamondbacks.