Centennial pitching paves way for first state final

By Richard Smith
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MESA - When the Centennial baseball Class of 2025 arrived on campus in August 2021, they were joining a revived program with coach Jon Williams having just led the Coyotes back to the 5A playoffs in his first full season.

But no one connected to the Coyotes had any reason to expect to play for a state title. Peoria rival Sunrise Mountain just had in 2021 and would again in 2024. In more than 30 years, Centennial baseball had never been particularly close.

That ends May 20. Now seniors, the 2025s led #3 Centennial (24-9) to its second one-run win over #2 Tucson Canyon del Oro (25-8) in two days, and the 2-1 victory at Hohokam Stadium Thursday sent the program to the next level.

“We knew we weren’t going to get the big bats and the big guys. So we kind of had to shape our offense around that and how we play the game,” Williams said. “We got the right pieces. Little by little, kids wanted to come play for u and be part of our program. It’s grown. We went from my first year having like 30 kids in the fall program to last year over 80.”

Pitching propelled the Coyotes. A 6-4 loss in the double-elimination bracket to Canyon del Oro on May 8 meant Williams would have to dig into his corps of arms beyond senior twin aces J.T. Price and Cohen Baack.

Flores threw seven pitches to cap off a 2-0 playoff win over Nogales May 5 and junior Xavier Escontrias threw 19 at the end of the loss to the Dorados. With Baack throwing a complete game win over Nogales May 12 and Price going the distance in a 1-0 shutout of the Dorados May 14, neither could pitch May 15.

Those future college pitchers were injured in 2024 and Flores started Centennial’s lone playoff win last season. That made him the natural choice Thursday.

“I tried not to do anything too big, just to keep it simple all the way through,” Flores said.

He pitched five innings, allowing one run in the fourth, Junior Peyton Carson hit a one-out single, swiped second on a passed ball and scored on senior Adrian Encinas’ RBI single to tie the game at 1.

Brandon Hoyler walked and Francisco Rivero hit a single up middle to start the bottom of the sixth and end Flores’ night. Escontrias came in with the pressure on.

He induced a fly ball out to center, with Hoyler tagging up and going to third. Escontrias then got help from senior catcher David Daniels, who threw out the pinch runner trying to steal second without Hoyler breaking for home.

An Escontrias strikeout for the third out preserved the tie.

“They like to pull the ball a lot and chase, so I knew my curveball would be good, and throwing a fastball or two-seam outside would be good,” Escontrias said.

Centennial loaded the bases with one out in the seventh. No. 9 hitter and coach’s son, junior Nicky Williams stepped in.

He hit a slow roller to short, giving Price plenty of time to come home and score what turned out to be the winning run.

“I want all of my kids to compete and live for the moment. I’m happy for him. He’s had a rough year, but he’s a role player. He does his job and that’s all we expect out of him,” Williams said. “All of these kids are my kids, but I’m super proud to see my kid be able to do that.”

Carson, the Dorados’ No. 3 starter on in relief for No. 2 Tarrell Reid, limited the damage by getting Daniels to fly out to center.

Williams said during the playoffs, Escontrias threw live in batting practices and he was getting stronger each time. The coach also said the junior’s off speed stuff would keep the Dorodos off balance better than another flamethrower.

Sophomore Gatlin Geile started the bottom of the seventh with a single, but Escontrias sent the next three Dorados down in order without the threat of the tying run scoring. He punctuated Centennial’s finals trip with a strikeout.

“I love these kids. They’re special. Isaac battled. He had good stuff and he started running out of gas, but he just battled and battled. I couldn’t be more proud of him,” Williams said. “And Xavier coming in for a big spot and closing it out, it’s unbelievable.”

Escontrias transferred in from nearby Ironwood before the 2024 season. At first, he said, he didn’t know many players but the guys helped him feel welcome and he settled in as the No. 8 hitter and reliever.

He was not transferring to a destination program, so watching Centennial turn into a destination program made the journey sweeter.

“It makes it a lot more special. That I contributed to it, means a lot,” Escontrias said.

Now Centennial plays another first time finalist from the West Valley, though Canyon View is a much newer school. Like Williams, Canyon View coach Nick Swanson was looking forward to his first varsity team in 2020 but COVID-19 forced the cancellation of that season.

Centennial plays #1 Canyon View (30-4) for the 5A state title at 4 p.m. in Tempe Diablo Stadium, 2200 W. Alameda Drive.

“I have a lot of respect for Nick. We came up through the club ranks together. We coached against each other in club ball. So when he got Canyon View and I got Centennial it was a pretty easy to link up. That’s going to be a hell of a game,” Williams said.
Seniors Flores, Price, Baack, William Strand — who drove in the first Centennial run, Daniels, Liu Rodriguez, Landon Bambulas Joseph Talas, Jarrett Stowell, Hunter Razon, Logan Sneden, Ronin Gaedert and Jace Carey get to play one more game together.

For many of them, it’s the game of their childhood dreams.

“I love it. I’ve been playing with these kids since I was little. It’s like family,” Flores said.

Richard Smith
Senior News Editor | Glendale & West Valley Preps

rsmith@iniusa.org

Richard Smith has been with Independent Newsmedia since 2016, and worked at a Sun City-based news outfit covering the Northwest Valley for 22 consecutive years.

An NAU alum and lifelong Arizona resident, Richard began as a copy editor and page designer at Surprise Today and the Daily News-Sun, then rekindled his love of sports writing by taking the reins on West Valley Preps in 2008.

For most of the mid-2010s he was the Surprise editor and West Valley Preps reporter. Now he’s the West Valley Preps Editor and Surprise Associate Editor.

As COVID restrictions slowly lift, Richard is cautiously optimistic he will visit book stores, football fields and gyms again this fall.