The Central Warriors are into the Class 5A state softball semifinals.

The Warriors (22-6) won two games on Friday at the Aurora Sports Park to advance to today's semifinals. The last time Central advanced to the state semifinals was in 2010.

Central, seeded 10th, beat No. 7 Broomfield 17-2 in the first round, then held off No. 15 Regis 6-2 in the quarterfinals. Regis beat No. 2-seeded Fossil Ridge 3-2 in the first round.


Against Regis, Central took a 6-0 lead after two innings. In the three-run second, Trinity Santiago hit a home run, and singles by Mya Murdoch, Aislyn Sharp and Myah Arrieta scored two more runs.

Kelty Key scattered 10 hits in seven innings, allowing two runs with one strikeout.

Against Broomfield, Sierra Dunham and Murdoch hit home runs to help put the Warriors up 7-0, then Jaeda Garcia hit a grand slam and Sharp added another home run in a seven-run sixth to put the game away. The Warriors had 15 hits in the game.

Ashleigh Satterfield was the beneficiary of the Warriors' offensive outburst, allowing two runs on seven hits with two walks and one strikeout in six innings. Central stole eight bases in its two wins, with Dunham and Garcia swiping a base in each game.


Central faces No. 6 Legend (18-9), the defending champion, at 10 a.m. The other semifinal game features No. 1 Cherokee Trail (25-2) and No. 12 Loveland (23-4-1).

The state title game will be at 1:30 p.m.