Centennial Wins in Messy Game

TUCSON - Neither team can recall ever being a part of something quite like this.

Peoria Centennial somehow found a way out of the mess to beat Scottsdale Chaparral 14-8 in an error-filled Class 4A semifinal game Friday at Hi Corbett Field. 

Centennial (30-6) committed six errors, and Chaparral (20-10) had three in a game where offense wasn't in short supply. Chaparral had 10 hits, and Centennial pounded 13.

"Ugly is ugly is ugly," Chaparral coach Jeff Oscarson said. "That's a shame because both teams hit the ball well. It see-sawed back and forth. They just had a little more than we did."

Centennial will play Glendale Cactus for the state championship at 7 p.m. at Hi Corbett. The Coyotes lost to Cactus in last year's title game.

Centennial batted around in the second inning, scoring three runs on Bre Peterson's RBI double to left, an error, and Olivia Bustamante's RBI single up the middle. Chaparral answered with four runs in the third on pitcher Erica Bailey's run-scoring single to right, two throwing errors and Bethany Kington's RBI single to center to jump ahead 4-3.

Centennial scored four more in the fifth on a wild pitch, Stephanie Luciani's two-run triple and Nicole Dvorak's sacrifice RBI.

"That was the most roller-coaster game I've ever been involved in," Centennial coach Bartt Underwood said. "In the fifth inning, I said, 'Whoever stops the roller coaster and wins each inning is gonna win.' "

The madness continued in the bottom of the fifth when Bailey doubled and scored on an error, allowing the Firebirds to knot it at 7. Centennial's Ashlie Rosenberg singled home Bustamante in the sixth to make it 8-7. Centennial added six more in the seventh on two hits, including pitcher Britnee Barnett's two-run double, three walks and a hit batsman to break it open.

"I knew we were going to win," said Bustamante, who was 4 for 5. "Our team doesn't go down without a fight."

Centennial's Erin Ladd was 3 for 4, and Rosenberg went 2 for 5 with two RBIs.

"We just made errors we shouldn't have made, but we stayed up the whole game," Ladd said. "We could've died, but we didn't."

Chaparral's Rachel Fleming, Erika Simington, Bailey and Kington all were 2 for 4. Kington drove in two runs, the last coming in the seventh.