Championship caliber teams never wait or hesitate.

Or flinch.

Teams at that level respond, recapture momentum and then rarely give it back.

The Queen Creek Bulldogs softball team showed several of these attributes in Wednesday’s 6A second round 7-2 victory over visiting No. 9 Desert Vista.

No. 1 Queen Creek (26-5) took an early 2-0 lead against the Thunder on a Gabby Ayala second-inning home run, but the Thunder (26-6) added single run tallies in the fourth and fifth inning to tie it heading into the bottom of the fifth.

“They trust each other,” Queen Creek coach Ann Pierson said. “They continue to fight and make adjustments. We trust our pitching staff and we tell them to keep us in the game and we’re going to get there.

“It was good to see (the winning rally). Our offense stayed with the game plan and we trusted it.”

Desert Vista catcher Jaymie Larney’s home run against Aubrey Chavez gave the Thunder the momentum. They tied the reigning state runner-up through four-and-a-half innings.

At that point, the Queen Creek offense (9.4 runs per game averaged) had been shut out in three of the four innings and had only two hits at that point off Thaliee Jones (10-2). 

The game wasn’t in the balance, but there was only so many at bats left.

A reply was needed.

So the Bulldogs stacked one good at bat after another in the bottom of the fifth that led to a game-winning, two-run triple by Charli Dixon after she smoked a ball to the right-center gap.

The hit scored No. 9 hitter Arhianna Muniz, who pulled a single through the right side, and Emma Reynolds, who walked, for the 4-2 lead. It was the response the Bulldogs needed.

Dixon, the No. 3 hitter, brought the dugout to their feet with the hit and then had them rolling with laughter after her “slide” into third.

"If you look up my track record, I don’t get a lot of sliding action,” she said with a laugh. “I had to be safe. I was going so fast I couldn’t stop. I just threw myself down there.”

 

Queen Creek's Charli Dixon slides into third base after her game-winning triple in the fifth inning. (Photos by Andy Silvas/Special to AzPreps365)

After the dust settled, sophomore Alessia Velazquez added on with a single to left field that might have been the hardest hit ball all game for a 5-2 lead.

“We’re always good at keeping the energy up and we don’t like losing,” said Dixon, who has a team-best 38 RBIs. “That was a big inning and led to the win.”

Chavez (14-0) was able to relax and face one over the minimum in the last two innings to help send Queen Creek into Friday’s third round, when the Bulldogs play No. 4 Xavier at Mesa High at 7 p.m.

“It let me know they have my back,” Chavez said of the winning rally. “Then I’m going to do everything I can to make sure I have their back, too.”

The Thunder are back on the field Thursday when they host No. 12 Mountain View in an elimination game at 4 p.m. Desert Vista beat the Toros 13-3 on April 15 in their only meeting of the season.

“(Queen Creek) had two big swings and that was the difference,” Desert Vista coach Chris Crowl said. “And we had too many mistakes offensively. We had runners in scoring position (in the fourth inning) and we didn’t get what we needed done.

“That one hurt. All year long we’ve used that opportunity to score runs. We just didn’t get it done there.”

The Bulldogs were able to add on when Reynolds smashed a ball to center field that took out the hatchback window of a car in the parking lot for the final margin of victory.

As impressive as that shot was it shouldn’t overlook the first home run of the game by Ayala, who is taking advantage of more consistent playing time after an injury to a teammate opened up third base.

 “Ayala was a key factor and that was a bomb,” Pierson said. “She understands the game. Her energy on the field is contagious. She’s a solid player and now she’s really coming into her own.”