4A STATE PLAY-IN: Clutch hits send Bulldogs to state

Mia Acuna had one directive when she came to bat in the bottom of the seventh inning: hit the ball to the right side and advance the potential tying run to third.

Centennial’s sophomore first baseman did that one better. She drove home the tying run and advanced herself to third.

Two batters later, Acuna trotted home with the winning run and sent the Bulldogs to the Class 4A state softball tournament.

Acuna tripled home Bailie Nelson, then scored on Heather Bowen’s single to right-center to lift the Bulldogs over Liberty 5-4 in the state play-in game Monday at Bishop Gorman.

“My coach told me I had to hit to the right side no matter what,” Acuna said. “I waited for my pitch. I exploded on it, and I did my job.”

Acuna drove a deep fly ball to right-center and kept running as Patriots outfielders Rhiannon Beck and Nichole Pence collided. Pence stayed down, and the ball rolled away from Beck as Nelson scored and Acuna rounded second.

“The focus was to get that runner over,” Centennial coach Mike Livreri said. “(Acuna) drove it a little further than I would have liked, but it worked.”

The Bulldogs, who won the state title in 2009, will face Foothill at 2 p.m. Friday at UNLV. Palo Verde and Bishop Manogue play at noon in the first game of the double-elimination tournament.

Nelson started the seventh by reaching second on a deep fly to center that was misjudged by Beck.

Acuna followed with the triple to plate Nelson.

Liberty pitcher Francesca Foti got Savannah Horvath to line out to short, but Bowen drilled the next pitch to the fence to end the game.

Centennial’s final four batters were two sophomores and two freshmen.

“Man, they showed a lot of composure,” Livreri said.

The hit capped a rally from a 4-1 deficit in the bottom of the sixth.

Centennial, held to three hits through five innings, took advantage of a Liberty error and a wild pitch to put runners at second and third with two outs. Alyssa Hotman singled to the right side of the infield, scoring both runs.

“That definitely was the spark we needed,” Livreri said. “Alyssa had to get that hit. We had to get those two runs.”

Bulldogs hurler Taylor Huntly threw only 11 pitches in the top of the seventh and kept the momentum with Centennial.

“We never doubted it. We have confidence in every single player,” Acuna said.

Brittany Huff, Foti, Diana Cassaro and Carson Cooper each had two of Liberty’s 11 hits.