No. 2 Canyon del Oro exuded nothing but confidence Thursday afternoon.

The Dorados entered the third round of the 5A Conference playoffs looking to extend their 12-game win streak and left Tempe Diablo Stadium satisfied after beating No. 3 Centennial 6-4 to advance to the semifinals.

Canyon del Oro (26-5) tallied nine hits against JT Price, the 5A Conference Defensive Player of the Year, half of which came in the bottom of the fifth.

A double from Peyton Carson was enough to get Francisco Rivero home, and then a perfectly placed triple from sophomore Gatlin Geile brought in Brayden Hoyler and starting pitcher Regen Mazura for a 6-3 lead as the game headed into the sixth inning.

Carson came in for relief during the top of the sixth with runners on second and third and managed to limit the Coyotes to just one run from there.

“Regen Mazura pitched a quality game, Carson did a great job coming in late, and we got the big hits,” said Canyon del Oro head coach Jason Hisey. “We made some mistakes, we gave up a couple outs on the bases we shouldn’t have, but we’ll take the win.”

In the second inning, after Centennial (20-9) scored a first-inning run, the Dorados loaded the bases twice.

Singles from Max Hendrix and Austin McGhee put Canyon del Oro up 2-1 early.

An error from the Coyotes in the top of the third extended the Dorados’ lead to 3-1 shortly after.

The Coyotes regained momentum in the top of the fifth, tying the score at 3-3, but the Dorados weren’t phased in the slightest.

“I don’t think it was a lack of toughness. We just gotta execute better,” said Centennial pitching coach Tom Parks. “We had a couple things go wrong and we didn’t capitalize on our opportunities like they did. We played a good game, but they had a better game.”

Centennial will now face off against Nogales (19-9-1) in a conference elimination game on Monday. The winner of that matchup will travel to Hohokam Stadium on Wednesday to take on Canyon del Oro.

“We have the potential,” Parks said. “We have everything that we need. They just played a better game today,” Parks said. “We can win it all. We just made it a tougher road for ourselves.”