Coyotes reach Pinnacle for Deer Valley rematch

As a freshman, Centennial pitcher Gabby Luciani would tell her coach before each start, "It's go time."

That's what Coach Bartt Underwood wanted to hear from his pitcher, who is in her senior year.

"I'm sure there were a lot of people who didn't think they'd see Gabby pitch another game this season, including her," Underwood said after Luciani completed a 4-hit, 10-0 shutout against No. 6 seed Pinnacle in the quarterfinals of the 5A-II State Tournament. "This was a very big game for Gabby.

"I told her there are two things I wanted from her today - first I didn't want to see her walk any one, and second I wanted it to be ‘go time.' And the couple of hits she gave up was because she didn't want to walk the hitter."

Underwood said Luciani has struggled with her command in her previous two outings, which has shaken her confidence and put her into a funk in the mound.

"She fell into a tendency where she leads a game off with a walk allows another base runner to reach and then something fluky happens, like an error and just like that she's down 2-0," Underwood said.

"I think this game was big not only for my confidence but for the team's confidence in the tournament," Luciani said. "With Mo and I pitching this well we can go all the way."

Luciani walked two batters and struck out nine, and knocked in two RBI including a bloop single over the shortstop to force the run-rule win. She also scored a run and walked once.

The Coyotes (26-5) jumped on the Pioneers early as six of the first seven batters in the first inning reached base safely, scoring four runs.

Colltey Sheldon led off the game for Centennial and reached on an error, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on right fielder Destinee Luna's first triple of the day, a bloop hit that fell just to the left of a diving Kale Gahn in left field. Catcher Paige Tonz followed with a single to center to bring in Luna, and after shortstop Krystal Garcia moved Tonz over with a sacrifice bunt and Luciani walked, designated player Morgan Montemayor hit an RBI-single to left.

The Coyotes approach at the plate Tuesday was a stark contrast compared to Saturday's performance against Deer Valley's Lauren Haeger. Centennial had just one infield hit by Luciani and hitters struck out 15 times.

After Saturday's performance, Underwood said his hitters needed to show more patience at the plate, shorten their swings and look for their pitch. His hitters responded with 12-hits and four walks.

"We were more relaxed at the plate today, and everyone did a good job of waiting for their pitch," Luciani said.

Underwood said his team did a better job at shortening their swings and looking for a pitch in their zone.

"Some swings looked almost effortless, like Luna's (second) triple - she barely swung, she just threw her hands at the ball and it went to the wall. Plus, I don't think there wasn't a girl who I asked to bunt that didn't get it down."

Garcia kept the pressure on in the third with a lead off triple into the right-center field gap, and Luciani's ground out to second base.

The Coyotes added five more in the sixth, all with two outs. First baseman Jamie Ladd led off with a single up the middle and moved to second on pinch hitter Madison January's sacrifice bunt. After a pop out to the pitcher, Sheldon walked and Luna followed with what looked like a check swing on a pitch up in the zone, but the ball traveled over the shortstop's head and split the gap. Sheldon and January scored, and when the throw got by the third baseman, Luna scampered home. Tonz followed with her second hit of the day and Garcia knocked her in with a triple to the wall in center field. Luciani ended the night one batter later with a bloop single over the shortstop's head.

The Pioneers had just one base runner reach third, and that came in the fifth. With two out, second baseman Jessica Perillo and center fielder Cierra Walter had back-to-back singles and shortstop Makenzi Dallas walked to load the bases. Luciani beared down against Pinnacle's No. 3 hitter and with the count full she got Gahn to check her swing for strike three.

Centennial will face No. 3 Deer Valley at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Rose Mofford Park. If the Coyotes win the first game another game will be played that night.