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In order to return to the state championship game for the first time since 1989, the No. 1-seeded Coconino Panthers have a regular-season rematch standing in the way on Thursday.

The 14th-seeded Poston Butte Broncos knocked off the No. 10 Walden Grove Red Wolves, 3-2, on Tuesday night in Sahuarita for their third road victory of the 4A Conference tournament. After upsetting the No. 3 Paradise Honors Panthers, 6-3, in the opening round of the tournament back on May 3, the Broncos followed up with an 11-7 victory over the No. 6 Flagstaff Eagles in the game that began on May 6 at Flagstaff High School and concluded a day later at Sandra Day O'Connor High School in the north Valley.

After losing 10-0 to No. 2 Salpointe Catholic on May 10, Poston Butte bounced back with its victory over Walden Grove on Tuesday to climb into the semifinals. 

The Broncos finished the regular season 13-5 overall, with one of those five losses coming to the 17-1 Panthers back on April 4. 

Allowing just one hit, two walks and one hit batter to the Broncos in the 6-0 victory, Panthers senior pitcher Kaitlyn Tso finished her seven-inning outing with 14 strikeouts. Scoring in four of the six innings at the plate, the Panthers took the lead in the second inning as Aryanna Dominguez walked, advanced up to third on a pair of groundouts and scored on an error charged to Broncos shortstop Kimberly Westover. A leadoff double by Cassidey Castillo began the third inning, with Destiny Villas cashing in the extra-base hit with a one-out single for a 2-0 lead.

Breaking open the game in the fifth inning, a pair of singles and a pair of doubles pushed Coconino's lead to 5-0, with an error and double in the sixth rounding out the scoring in the inning. Senior Sophie Monsman finished 3 for 3 with one run scored, while Castillo and Villas each added two hits. Castillo accounted for two runs scored, while Villas drove in a trio of runs.

The win was one of nine shutouts during the regular season for Coconino, which has won its three playoff games by a combined five runs, including a pair of walk-offs in the eighth inning.

While Poston Butte's offense was shut out by Salpointe Catholic in its 10-0 defeat, it has averaged 6.66 runs per game in its playoff victories. Coconino's allowed just three runs in its three postseason games while scoring eight runs. The Panthers had scored 13 or more runs in seven of their final eight regular-season games, averaging 14.1 runs per game between April 7 and April 28.

First pitch of the opening semifinal game is set for 5:30 p.m. at Prescott High School on Thursday, with a second game necessary only if the Panthers lose the first game, scheduled to begin 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first. The semifinal round will be the second all-time meeting between the two schools, according to , following their first-ever meeting six weeks prior.

The 4A title game is now scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. on Saturday at Arizona State University's Farrington Softball Stadium in Tempe.