Resilient Centennial rallies to beat Coronado in 10 innings

Centennial’s softball team is pretty good at coming from behind.

After rallying for a victory in the championship game of the Spring Showdown in St. George, Utah, on Saturday, the Bulldogs were at it again on Wednesday.

Centennial squandered a lead against Coronado and fell behind by two runs in the top of the ninth before coming back to beat the visiting Cougars 6-5 in 10 innings.

“I was thinking man this team is a little bit resilient, they’re showing some resiliency,” Bulldogs coach Mike Livreri said. “I mean, (they) did it in St. George and then flashed it again today. That’s good to see.”

Maddie Kallfelz walked to open the bottom of the 10th inning and eventually stole second base. After Tatum Huntly struck out, Ashlynn Heck singled to right-center field to bring home Kallfelz with the winning run.

“I knew we could come back easily,” Heck said. “We just needed that boost. Everyone on this team has the capability of hitting the ball hard. But also, we have the capability of putting it in gaps, where people are aren’t. We can do small ball, we can hit to gaps, we can hit home runs, we can move baserunners easily, we have that special connection and chemistry.”

Amanda Sink went the distance and struck out 19 to get the win. The 19 strikeouts is tied for fifth-most all-time in state history.

“We were going to take her out after nine, because we figured she was pretty spent, but she wanted to go back out there for the 10th,” Livreri said. “She showed a lot for going 10 strong and has shown progress since last season, and I think has gotten a little bit better. She was dealing today, and we have a real good luxury to go to a second and third pitcher, but Amanda wanted to rock, so that’s cool.”

Coronado took a 5-3 lead in the top of the ninth when Paige Sinicki reached on an error and came around to score on a throwing error to make it 4-3. Ashley Ward, who was 5-for-5, singled home Kaila Angel to make it 5-3.

Huntly and Heck opened the bottom of the ninth with back-to-back triples. Huntly scored on Heck’s rope to the fence, and Heck scored on Abby Hanley’s groundout to force a 10th inning.

Sink did her part in the circle in the top of the 10th, and the Bulldogs returned the favor with the walk-off win in the bottom half.

“My heart was pounding out of my chest,” Sink said. “I was proud of them, because they came in clutch and they did it for the team. I have confidence in my offense. Obviously, you get worried but we did well in the last tournament, so I was confident that we would get it back.”