SUNSET SOFTBALL: Bulldogs’ two comeback victories rate a ‘10’

Trailing by nine runs in the third inning of the first of two games it needed to win Friday, Centennial’s softball team didn’t exactly have a lot of believers.

Even the most ardent Bulldog fan couldn’t be blamed for thinking about next year when Arbor View built a 10-1 lead over the Bulldogs in an elimination game of the Division I Sunset Region tournament at Bishop Gorman.

The Bulldogs spent the next 11 1/2 innings making believers out of everyone in sight.

Centennial scored the final 10 runs in each of its two games Friday, first pulling off an improbable rally for an 11-10 win over Arbor View, then spotting Shadow Ridge a three-run lead and rallying for a 10-3 win in the nightcap.

As a result, Centennial (25-13) advances to meet Palo Verde (30-8) in the Sunset final at 1 p.m. Saturday at Foothill. The Bulldogs would need to beat the Panthers twice to win the region title. Palo Verde needs only one win.

“Just a lot of heart, really,” said Centennial coach Mike Livreri. “Just the old cliches of let’s chip away, let’s stay in it, let’s not quit. That’s one thing about this team, they don’t quit. Some things went our way.”

Arbor View scored six runs in the top of the third inning for a 10-1 lead in the first game, and Livreri screamed at his team to refocus and pick up its level of play.

The message took a while to be received, but the Bulldogs chipped away with two, two-out runs in the fourth inning and a two-run homer by Stephanie Day with two outs in the fifth inning.

And then came the fireworks.

Kiana Tate’s sacrifice fly in the sixth made it 10-6, and Jaden Tate followed with an RBI single.

Hannah Jones’ pinch-hit single put two runners on for Kara Simpson, who tied the game with a homer to center field. Five pitches later, Makenzie Ball made it back-to-back homers to give Centennial the lead for good.

“You’re on the verge of getting 10-runned in five innings,” Livreri said. “We started making some plays, and then we started getting some hits. And then we got some big hits.”

Kellie Anderson was 3-for-4 with a double and three RBIs for Arbor View (21-9).

In the second game, Shadow Ridge scored three times on five hits in the top of the first inning, but Centennial never panicked.

The Bulldogs got one back on a Shadow Ridge error and three walks in the bottom of the first before the wheels fell off for the Mustangs (13-6) in the third.

Four errors, a walk and two hit batters gave Centennial the lead despite not having a hit in the game, and Jaden Tate’s double — the Bulldogs’ first hit — brought home three runs to make it 7-3.

“I guess we just spot teams runs,” Livreri said. “But there was no panic at all.”

Maddie Jones took care of the rest.

Jones, who threw four scoreless innings in relief in the first game, retired the final 18 Shadow Ridge hitters to complete a six-hitter.

“She was spectacular, just spectacular,” Livreri said. “She pitched her butt off. She held a good-hitting team in check.”