Sophomore ace Cheyanne Tarango did her best Houdini impression and tightrope dance, escaping from one tight situation after the next, to help Canyon defeat Rancho Bernardo of San Diego, 2-1, in the Michelle Carew Classic on Friday at Peralta Park.

The Comanches (14-5), ranked No. 2 in the county and No. 14 in the state by CalHiSports.com, will play Vista Murrieta in the semifinals on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Norco, ranked No. 5 in the state, plays El Camino of Oceanside, ranked No. 5 in San Diego County, in the other semifinal at 1:15 p.m. The championship game is at 7:30 p.m.

Tarango allowed nine hits, three walks and one hit batter, but she also had 12 strikeouts and Canyon's defense was flawless behind her.

Rancho Bernardo got two runners on with one out in the top of the first inning, but Tarango came through with back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning.

The Broncos loaded up the bases with two outs in the top of the second, but tarango got Lauren Nagle to line out to Tayler Van Acker at first.

Rancho Bernardo (13-3-1) loaded up the bases again with two outs in the top of the sixth, but Tarango got Christina Nebrida to ground out to second.

Canyon got out-hit 9-4, but the Comanches made their hits count. Shannon Bustillos hit towering home run to right in the bottom of the first to stake Canyon to a 1-0 lead.

Canyon's Taylor Ousley, who had the walk-off homer to beat Trabuco Hills on Thursday, drilled a triple to the gap in left-center field and scored on freshman Lauren Young's single up the middle in the bottom of the second.

The Broncos kept applying the pressure and finally broke through in the top of the seventh. Christy Nelson delivered a two-out single to drive in Rancho Bernardo's first run. The Broncos still had runners on first and third, but again Tarango proved to be at her best under pressure, striking out Leah Gordon to end the game.

In other Michelle Carew Classic games:

El Camino (Oceanside) 4, Esperanza 1: The Wildcats (12-2) used a three-run rally in the top of the sixth to snap a 1-1 tie, and they went on to defeat the Aztecs (11-8-1).

The Aztecs manufactured a run in the bottom of the second to take a 1-0 lead, but El Camino's Olivia Naotala tied it up with a line-drive homer to left in the top of the fourth.

Esperanza 9, Long Beach Wilson 3: Penn State-bound Kailyn Johnson went 2 for 3, including a grand slam during a six-run rally in the bottom of the first, and Northwestern-bound Kristin Scharkey went 2 for 3 with two runs and an RBI as the Aztecs (11-7-1) overwhelmed the Bruins (14-5-1).

Valencia (Valencia) 1, El Toro 0: Annie Dreher drove in the go-ahead run with a one-out single in the top of the eighth inning and the Vikings (14-3) held on to beat the Chargers (7-12).

Trabuco Hills 5, Pacifica 0: Kayla Massey pitched a two-hit shutout and No. 9 Trabuco Hills scored all five of its runs in the top of the fourth inning to beat Pacifica, 5-0, in the third round of the Michelle carew Classic on Friday at Peralta Park.

Contact the writer: carias@ocregister.com