Thaw, Centennial win 4A state play-in game in softball

Brandy Thaw experienced disappointment two years ago in a Class 4A state play-in softball game.

Centennial's senior third baseman wasn't about to let it happen again Monday at Bonanza.

Thaw stroked a two-out, two-run single in the top of the seventh inning to lift the Bulldogs into the state tournament with a 6-5 win over Green Valley (27-9). Centennial (27-9) will meet Foothill (28-11) to open the state tourney at 4 p.m. Friday at Majestic Park.

"I just said I had to do it," said Thaw, a sophomore when Centennial lost the play-in game to Foothill in 2007. "I told myself I couldn't let us down."

The Bulldogs' No. 8 hitter, Thaw stepped up with the bases loaded and looped a 2-and-1 pitch into left field, scoring Johnna Brown with the tying run and Mikayla Djordjevic with the go-ahead run.

"I was just trying to put it somewhere where they couldn't get it," Thaw said. "It's my senior year. I had to do it."

"If anybody needed it and deserved it, she did," Centennial coach Mike Livreri said. "It came down to two outs and a senior at the plate. It's big for our seniors after having that disappointment in 2007."

Centennial pitcher Lindsay Konopelko pitched out of a jam in the seventh, stranding runners at the corners when she got a popout and a strikeout to end the game.

The Bulldogs jumped to a 3-0 lead on Djordjevic's bases-clearing double in the first but didn't make it easy on themselves. Centennial committed five errors and, with the potential tying run at third base in the sixth inning, had a runner thrown out trying to steal second to end the inning.

Green Valley tied the game at 3 in the third, scoring twice on an error and another run on Jacqui Cappuccilli's two-out double. The Gators added single runs in the fourth on Katharine Conti's two-out single and fifth on Shelby Vickers' two-out single.

Conti, Cappuccilli, Lace Jordan, Ali Bodnar and Chelsea Anderson each had two hits for the Gators.

Brown was 2-for-3 with a double and two runs for Centennial, and teammate Kylie Bartlett went 2-for-4.

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