Crisp finally secures coveted 4A state title

Adam Candee

Thursday, June 10, 2004 | 9:52 a.m.

Shannon Crisp fell painfully short twice as the hunter, unable to snare an elusive state championship.

But when her senior year arrived and the target settled onto her back, no one would keep Crisp and the Centennial softball team from winning the title they so desperately craved.

Unquestionably the state's best pitcher and one of its best hitters in 2004, Crisp is the Sun All-State Player of the Year, also marking her third selection to the first team. She replaces Wooster's Brianne McGowan -- a three-time Player of the Year winner -- as Nevada's dominant force, completing a remarkable half-decade of dominance between the two players.

Centennial coach Mike Livreri rightfully felt he had only one option this year: Go with his best pitcher until she ran out of gas. And even when she did on the final day of her senior season, Crisp still found enough to carry the Bulldogs to a state championship.

"We only had one pitcher," Livreri said. "I think it would be hard for other teams to go and win with one pitcher."

That one pitcher threw every important inning of the season for Centennial, as the prohibitive favorite Bulldogs worked through the Sunset Region playoffs and made it to state as expected. What happened once they got there was far from ordinary.

Centennial lost its first game and found itself three outs from elimination against Silverado, in danger of three years of buildup falling apart in three hours. The Bulldogs rallied for the win and Crisp took it from there in one of the most spectacular single-day performances in state prep annals.

She won three games in a span of seven hours, pitching 20 innings and striking out 25 batters. At the plate, Crisp hit some of the longest homers in recent memory -- four, to be exact. She also drove in nine runs.

And even when she tired in the final game against Douglas, Crisp would not let Livreri take her out. They both knew she was their best hope, even at less than 100 percent.

"She pretty much showed it all that Saturday," Livreri said. "She showed her heart."

After two 1-0 losses to McGowan's Wooster teams in 2002 and 2003, Crisp entered this season determined to win a state title and she guided a relatively inexperience squad to do just that. During the regular season, Crisp put together a 22-3 record, allowing just 12 earned runs for an ERA of 0.47. She struck out batters at a rate of almost two per inning (304 strikeouts in 177 innings). All of those numbers paced Southern Nevada pitchers.

Yet her hitting -- what Crisp might end up being best known for at UNLV, where she will play college softball -- is what sets her apart. Likely the most feared hitter in the state, Crisp still saw enough pitches to bat .490 (47-for-96) with six homers and 35 RBIs. She finished second in the valley to only teammate Tory Healy in the power categories.

"It's pretty impressive," Livreri said. "I don't really see many other people who can do that."

And he likely will not for quite a while.