Centennial nips Silverado with gem from Sauer

Spencer Patterson

Thursday, March 28, 2002 | 11:23 a.m.

Originally scheduled to play each other last week, Centennial and Silverado opted to push their top-10 softball matchup back to late April, when it can help them prepare better for the playoffs.

Turns out, the Bulldogs and Skyhawks got an early season look at one another anyway. The two area powers met in Wednesday's Fred Davison Memorial Tournament bronze division championship, with Centennial picking up a hard-fought 1-0 win at the West Flamingo Softball Complex.

"We always love to play Silverado," Bulldogs coach Cyndi Castro said. "Coach (Chuck) Pope always does a great job with those kids -- they go hard all the time. We need to be tested like that so we're ready for the tough games at the end."

Shannon Crisp gave Centennial (15-2) the only run it would need in the first inning, blasting a double to deep right-center to score Maggie Livreri from first base.

Senior pitcher Amy Sauer did the rest, holding the Skyhawks (14-7) to three hits and allowing just two runners to advance past first base. Sauer struck out just one, but issued no walks and forced Silverado into 12 ground-ball outs and five infield pop-ups.

"I'm very proud of her today. She took control, and from pitch No. 1 to the last pitch of the game, she dominated," Castro said. "Mentally and physically, it was her best game since I've coached her the past three years."

Offered Sauer: "Even though it worked out to be a one-run game, we know one run is never enough, especially against Silverado. We felt we needed to score another run, but my defense was holding tight."

Sauer also doubled, joining Crisp and Silverado's Emily Moores as the only players with extra-base hits in the contest.

Kelly Griego suffered the loss for the Skyhawks despite surrendering only five hits and striking out six.

In other action Wednesday, Green Valley captured the red division title with a 10-0 win over Rancho. Emily Sully went 2-for-3 with two runs, and Meaghan Haley and Santana Thiede combined for a one-hit shutout for the Gators.

Mira Mesa (Calif.) took the gold trophy with a 2-0 victory over Brookside Christian (Calif.), and Taft (Calif.) knocked off Westwood (Ariz.) 10-0 for the silver championship.