Buckeye Verrado twins Shae and Sierra Smith have been the foundation the powerful Viper program has been built upon. Rock solid.

The sisters batted over .500 as freshmen, took the program to the final four and finished with 101 wins in their four years. With both signed on to play for Grand Canyon, Verrado (25-7) hoped to avenge last year's playoff loss to Oro Valley Canyon del Oro (30-5) but the Vipers fell short, losing 7-2 on Tuesday.

"My time at Verrado has been indescribable," Sierra explained. "I'm so happy to be a part of the last four years and at least five of us have been together since then. Some have come and gone but I'm so proud."

Though Sierra prefers to play utility rather than pitch, she was called upon to try to stop the bats of Canyon del Oro. She held the Dorados to an unearned run in the bottom of the first and shut the team down through three innings.

Jordyn Binnion reached on a single and then Carli Campbell reached on an error to put CDO's first two batters on. Sierra picked up a strikeout and an infield grounder for two quick outs but she walked Arianna Acedo to load the bases.

Nene Campos drew a full-count walk to score Binnion. A groundout ended the inning with minimal damage.

Meanwhile, Dorado ace Randi Longville (17-3) struggled early but an unassisted double play from Jenna Martinez shut Verrado down in the top of the first and a fly ball left two more on base in the second inning.  

Verrado broke through in the top of the fourth after Alex Sonoqui and Samantha Preston reached on back-to-back singles. Stephanie Pinson hit into a fielder's choice and then Longville induced a groundout for the second out.

One strike away from foiling another Verrado threat, Hailey Raio singled home Preston to tie the game and then Sierra Smith doubled to the fence to bring in Pinson for the 2-1 lead.

But that was it. Longville only gave up one hit the rest of the way.

Down 2-1, the bottom of the Dorado order came up big in the fourth. Arianna Felix hit a lead-off single and then Martinez reached on a fielder's choice. Monique Castillo took first on an error and then Brenna Griesser doubled home Kate Klotz who was running for Martinez.

Binnion followed with an RBI to score Castillo and Campbell knocked in Griesser and CDO was suddenly up 4-2.

Acedo would go on and double in the fifth and she would score on an error to make it 5-2 and then Griesser would pick up another RBI to make it 6-2 after five innings.

"I was looking to stay calm and it was easy because I knew there were batters behind me who would pick me up," said Griesser on her game-changing double.

"I was so excited and happy we got those two runs. When I saw the ball go over the outfielder's head I knew we did it," she added.

Sierra gave way to freshman pitcher Morgan Preston (8-0) and Ellessa Bonstrom put the game away with a solo shot in the sixth for the 7-2 final.

No. 7 Canyon del Oro will take on No. 2 Tucson Salpointe in the third round on Thursday night at Tucson Amphitheater High School. It will be the second game of a double header with No. 4 Vail Cienega playing No. 12 Tucson High at 5:30 p.m.

The Badgers upset No. 5 Oro Valley Ironwood Ridge 11-7 to advance to the double-elimination round. The Nighthawks are the Division II defending champions.