Shadow Ridge edges Centennial in Sunset Region softball tournament

Shelbi Denman’s afternoon almost ended early Wednesday.

Shadow Ridge’s freshman pitcher struggled with her control and was replaced in the circle in the first inning of her team’s Sunset Region playoff game at Centennial.

But the Mustangs gave her a second chance, and Denman rewarded them in a big way.

Denman returned to throw four hitless innings in relief and hit the go-ahead home run in the 10th inning as the Mustangs outlasted Centennial 7-5 in a winners’ bracket semifinal. Shadow Ridge (13-4) advances to meet Palo Verde (29-8) in the winners’ final at 4 p.m. today at Bishop Gorman.

“It feels great, because my teammates always have my back,” Denman said. “Just to know they can lift me up and I can lift them up, it’s the best feeling in the world.”

Denman faced six batters — walking three and allowing two hits — before being lifted with one out in the first inning and her team trailing 2-0.

“We knew she didn’t have her control in the beginning,” Shadow Ridge coach Julia Meyn said. “We took her out, brought her (behind the dugout) and had her throw some more, waited to see if she was in the game mentally. Shelbi was ready, and she said, ‘I got this.’ ”

Reliever Alisha Schultz held Centennial (22-13) in check, and the Mustangs took leads of 3-2 and 5-3 but watched the Bulldogs rally both times.

Kara Simpson’s sacrifice fly in the sixth tied the game at 5.

Denman returned to start the seventh and looked like a different pitcher.

She allowed just three runners — two on errors and one on a walk — in the final four innings. “I felt like I owed it to my team to be confident when I went back in,” Denman said.

Then in her first at-bat, Denman smoked the second pitch she saw well beyond the left-field fence to lead off the 10th inning and give Shadow Ridge the lead for good.

“We told her that she didn’t have to do the hitting, that we’ll do the hitting and you just do your job on the mound,” Meyn said. “We told her to just have fun, and bam, she hit that one over the fence.”

Justin Garganese’s bases-loaded groundout to second later in the inning scored Samaiya Montgomery to give Shadow Ridge the 7-5 lead.

Garganese was 3-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs, and Schultz went 4-for-6 for Shadow Ridge, which pounded out 16 hits in a game that lasted 3 hours, 10 minutes, and saw 347 pitches thrown.

Denman and Schultz combined to allow just seven hits.

“Our girls work hard, and they’ve got a lot of heart,” Meyn said.

Brianna Benoit homered for Centennial, which faces host Gorman in an elimination game at 2 p.m. today.

Contact reporter Bartt Davis at bdavis@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5230.