Cyan De Luigi’s knows all about being patient.

And that attribute was vital in the Desert Mountain senior contributing to Monday’s celebration at Arizona State University’s Farrington Stadium.

De Luigi hasn’t had much playing time until this year, biding her time for that special senior year. She’s showed the same patience when she came to the plate for a second time in the 5A state softball championship game.

Her slash of a swing on an outside pitch put Desert Mountain in position to win.

Yes, Lilly “Goose” Goodwin did most of the work after the third inning triple by De Luigi, but the senior’s opposite field liner to right was the start of the Wolves’ offensive rally that led to their third straight 5A state title.

Top-ranked Desert Mountain topped No. 3 Canyon del Oro 4-0 on Monday night thanks to the pitching and hitting by Goodwin, but it was De Luigi’s triple off stingy right-hander Ameila Streuber that ignited the first runs of the game.

After her hit with one out in the third, McKinsey Beyer walked and stole second in front of Goodwin, who ripped a single up the middle on a 2-1 pitch to drive in both runs.

“She has been so patient,” Desert Mountain Chris Fredricks said of De Luigi. “I absolutely love that girl. She had upper classmen ahead of her the last two years and that can get tough, but when she was called on this year, she has come through. That start to the third inning kicked everything off.”

De Luigi, who came into the game hitting .319, knew she was going to have an opportunity to go opposite field against Streuber.

“In my first at bat it was all outside and rise balls,” she said. “I knew if I was patient, I would be able to drive something to that side of the field. I got that outside pitch, let it travel and once I saw where it was going, I knew I was going for a triple.”

When you have one of the most dominating pitchers in the history of Arizona, a two-run lead is about as safe as betting there will be a 110-degree day in August in Scottsdale.

It’s going to be sweltering, and Goodwin is going to be just as sizzling with her mix of pitches and seemingly unflappable demeanor.

The left-hander is now 55-1 with ERA under 0.40 in her career at Desert Mountain (30-1-1) with a trio of 5A state titles.

She wiggled out of a rare bases loaded jam in the first but didn’t give up much more after that. Goodwin went the distance, gave up two hits, didn’t walk a batter, and struck out 16.

“It wasn’t a struggle, but it is something I haven’t experienced a lot this season,” the Northwestern commit said of the bases loaded. “I have faith in my defense and offense. Even if they score one run, it wasn’t going to be enough.”

In her three state championship games, Goodwin has gone 21 innings, allowed 10 hits, two earned runs, walked two and struck out 38.

Desert Mountain tacked on two runs in the fifth on Zoe Horning’s second double of the game as the senior outfielder drove the ball to the warning track near ASU's list of national championships in left center field.

“Zoe smashed that ball,” said Fredricks, who used to coach the Wolves’ wrestling program. “It gave us a cushion. We really don’t need much with Goose, but adding on late is something championship teams do.”

The Dorados (32-4) missed their chance to score in the first when Sammy Hudgens led off with a single, Taya Kelly reached on a Goodwin error with two outs, and Adriana Machado reached on a dropped third strike as Desert Mountain catcher Sara Frimmel couldn’t pull the trigger on throwing to first base for the third out.

It loaded the bases, but Goodwin reared backed threw three strikes to end the threat.

“That’s the whole point isn’t it – pushing one across,” Dorados coach Kelly Fowler said. “If we get one there you never know, but they were going to be hard to beat. We played well, had some interesting calls and lost 4-0. You want to win, but with some of the things we’ve had going on, it was tough.”

The off-the-field intrigue included 11 Dorado seniors weighing the fact that they also had their graduation commencement this evening in Tucson. There were 10 robes hanging in the dugout and they held a ceremony behind home plate after the game as they got their diplomas from a CDO administrator.

The Canyon del Oro softball team held a graduation ceremony for their 10 seniors after the game. (Photo by Rick Gutierrez, Special to AZPreps365).“It’s been a lot of weight on them this week,” Fowler said. “It’s not a great situation but we made the most of it.”

The Dorados had a great year as their only other defeats this season came against out-of-state teams and they entered this contest on a 15-game win streak.

“We have a great team, more than we have outstanding individuals,” said Fowler of her program that has made 15 state championship game appearances and has nine state titles. “They all are really good and play well together. I am really proud of this team.”

It’s tough to take out a team that has been the favorite since the start of the year, knows how win the big moments, and take home the big trophy.

“It wasn’t talk of a three-peat,” Goodwin said. “It was talking about taking each game one at a time and we are going to make it to May 19. We know how dangerous it is to have the mentality of a three-peat from the start because there’s always an underdog waiting to take you out. We just knew we were going to do whatever it takes to get back here.”