Elise Hull of Sabino applies a late tag to Peach Luna of Scottsdale Chaparral in their state semifinal game Thursday at Rose Mofford Softball Complex in Phoenix.

Julio Jimenez for the Arizona daily star

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PHOENIX — The Canyon del Oro softball team is more than just Kenzie Fowler and a bunch of classmates wearing the same shirts and pants, a point the Dorados have tried to demonstrate to critics all season.

Thursday's 6-0 victory over Glendale Cactus in the Class 4A-I semifinals at the Rose Mofford Softball Complex served as further evidence of CDO's all-around talent. The top-seed Dorados (32-3) knocked the ball all over the field — and over the fence — to advance to the state final for the third straight season.

"We've had consistent hitting all season, and it's been nice they could show that during state," said CDO coach Amy Swiderski, whose team will face No. 2 Scottsdale Chaparral (29-7) at 6:30 p.m. Saturday "We have several girls who are hitting over .400, and nearly every girl has had the opportunity to hit in the winning run this year."

On a night when Fowler did not have her best stuff, CDO relied on its bats to avenge last year's title game loss. It started in the second inning when senior Brittany Tucker led off with a home run to center field.

After senior Kandice Glynn reached base on a hit by pitch, Katie Asher belted a two-run homer to left. The sophomore did so immediately after losing her grip on the bat while swinging at a pitch, resulting in the home plate umpire getting grazed.

"I think I was just a little excited; that was a total accident," Asher said.

With a more-than-comfortable lead, Fowler began to cruise after a rough first two innings. Fowler, a sophomore, was battling allergies, as well as a knot in her shoulder, and in the second, she found herself in a second-and-third, one-out situation before striking out the next two hitters from No. 5 Cactus (25-11) to end the threat.

"We relied more on location tonight than on my speed," said Fowler, who allowed three hits and struck out nine to move to 27-1 this season. "But it was really our clutch hitting that helped us tonight. Brittany and Katie were so clutch."

CDO added a run in the fourth on a two-out single by Adrianna Privitera, and two more in the sixth on a two-out, two-run single by Lindsey Weldon.

The win helped avenge last season's 1-0 loss to Cactus in the final.

● Scottsdale Chaparral 2, Sabino 0: At Rose Mofford, the late-season surge for No. 6 Sabino (23-15) came to an end in the semifinals when it was unable to capitalize on a late opportunity.

After being stymied by Chaparral sophomore Mackenzie Popescue for the first six frames, Sabino got a leadoff walk from Molly Brossart and a double by Killian McEwen to put runners on second and third. Senior slugger Emma Dunlap was due up next.

But Dunlap, whose solo homer gave Sabino a 2-1 win over Phoenix Greenway in Tuesday's quarterfinals, struck out swinging for the first out, and Popescue then got Elise Hull to pop out and and Brittany Murray to strike out to end the game.

"Emma had been hitting really good lately, so we were hoping she'd hit one of her famous home runs, but she wasn't able to," said McEwen, a senior who took the loss on the mound.

Chaparral got its runs in the third and fourth innings on RBI groundouts, playing station-to-station ball after the leadoff runner reached in both frames.

Sabino began the year 8-11 before catching fire in the second half.

"When we were 12-12, I never thought we'd make it to the semifinals," Sabino coach Galen Paton said.