Bulldogs’ victory is semi-satisfying

Centennial was happy to just survive its semifinal game in the Centennial Spring Jamboree softball tournament.

Only moments later, the Bulldogs were pleased again to accept the tournament championship trophy.

Centennial battled to a 10-6 semifinal victory over McQueen on Saturday at Majestic Park, then won the tournament when Bloomington (Calif.) had to forfeit the championship game.

Bloomington coach John Ramirez said his team is limited to 20 games and by playing the championship game, the Bruins would have had to forfeit a league game later in the year. Bloomington played five games in the tournament.

"Certainly it's not the way we wanted to win the title," Centennial coach Mike Livreri said. "But you can't fault them for not wanting to forfeit a league game."

Once Bloomington completed its 6-4 win over Damonte Ranch in the other semifinal, the ongoing Centennial-McQueen game became, in essence, a championship game.

Centennial never trailed, but blew leads of 4-0 and 6-2. The Lancers tied the game at 6 by scoring four runs without a hit in the top of the fifth inning.

The Bulldogs took the lead for good in the bottom of the inning when Brandy Thaw reached on a two-out error and Alyssa Rampa and Mikayla Djordjevic hit consecutive doubles.

Winning pitcher Lauren Lynds, who entered in the fifth, added a two-out, two-run homer in the sixth. Centennial's last six runs all came with two outs in an inning.

"We got some really big two-out hits," Livreri said. "We had a bad inning where we let them tie it up, but somehow we got it done. It showed a lot about us that we could bounce back."

Djordjevic was 4-for-4 with three RBIs to lead the Bulldogs' 14-hit attack.

Palo Verde won the consolation because Churchill (Ore.) was unable to compete due to a game limit.

• Damonte Ranch 6, Palo Verde 3 -- In a winners' bracket quarterfinal, Palo Verde's Amanda Montalto went 2-for-2 with a home run and a double.

The Panthers loaded the bases in the seventh, but a strikeout ended the game.

• Palo Verde 4, Las Vegas 1 -- Alex Alakai went 3-for-3 with a double, triple and four RBIs to lead the Panthers.

• Las Vegas 6, Arbor View 2 -- Tiffini Lucero and Brianna Guzman each went 3-for-4 for the Wildcats. Savannah Webster was 3-for-4 with an RBI for Arbor View.

• Foothill 9, Galena 4 -- Jennifer James and Brandy Yamka each had two hits and two RBIs as Foothill defeated Galena.

• Churchill (Ore.) 11, Foothill 10 -- Foothill's improbable rally from a 10-2 deficit forced extra innings, but the Falcons couldn't answer Churchill's run in the eighth.

Shelbi Medrano doubled, tripled and had three RBIs for the Falcons.

• Churchill (Ore.) 5, Coronado 3 -- Bianca Query, Kim Makiri and Terylle Aguada each had an RBI single in a losing effort for the Cougars.