(Tempe, AZ) The Empire Ravens under the direction to Shannon Woolridge were gunning for their second consecutive State Title at ASU’s Farrington Stadium.
The kids from Vail Arizona came in with a stellar a 27 win season with only one defeat. Their lone blemish was at the hands of the Tanque Verde Hawks back on April 21st. Last Friday, they avenged that loss with a close 1-0 game to advance to tonight’s title game.
Empire’s big game player Angelina Dehler who came in with a .594 Batting Average, but also led the team in On Base Percentage at .700 and Slugging Percentage of 1.078 and 39 RBI.
Kendall Freidinger is their ace with a 1.31 ERA
Yuma Catholic came in with a 25-4 record and ran the table at 10-0 in the 3A West. The Shamrocks excel in all sports both boys and girls. They beat a tough Show Low team 9-2 last Friday to set up their matchup with the Ravens.
Faith Donley led the Shamrocks with a .517 Batting Average and an On Base Percentage of .537 with 46 hits this season.
Cherish Trujillo came in with a stingy 0.92 ERA and a 24-2 pitching record.
This a one of the best matchups in the entire tournament, strength on strength.
First Inning
Ravens’ pitcher Kendall Freidinger breezed through the first inning by striking the first two batters out and a pop up to second base.
The Shamrocks pitcher Cherish Trujillo had success in the bottom half of the inning only facing four batters
Second Inning
Freidinger made all three outs as she snagged a line drive back to circle and next two batters to struck out.
The Ravens went down in order sending two fly balls deep to left field.
Third Inning
Yuma Catholic hadn’t figured out Freidinger pitching as she struck out the side
Empire was having its issues as well going down in order for the second consecutive inning.
Fourth Inning
Freidinger whiffed the first two batters that gave her eight strikeouts in a row and Yuma went down with a routine grounder to the second baseman.
With both pitchers on their game, the Ravens once again went out in order.
Fifth Inning
The strikeouts continued as all three Shamrock batters went down.
Empire got the bat on the ball with a groundout and a pop up. A strikeout looking ended the inning.
Sixth Inning
Yuma Catholic was at the mercy of Freidinger as she recorded her thirteenth strikeout book ended by comebacker to the circle and a pop up to first base to end the inning.
Finally the Ravens got their bats on the ball. An error on the first baseman got things going, followed by a Ahna Dhaliwal single to left field and two runners aboard. After a pop up to third base for the first out. A single to right field was played perfectly as the runner from second base was gunned down at the plate. Empire left two runners on an inning ending fly ball to right field
Seventh Inning
The no hitter was broken up by Mailyn Milan with a one out sharp single to center field. She couldn’t advance and was left stranded at first base.
After a leadoff fly out to left field, Empire got a runner onboard with an infield single. A sacrifice bunt moved the runner to second but now with two outs. A wild pitch got the runner to third but she would be left on base on an inning ending pop up to second base.
Eighth Inning
Yuma Catholic once again broke the string when Adayah Carrillo got onboard with a walk but with two outs and a soft line out to second ended their chances.
A one out infield hit by Lainey Kroeger got things going for Empire. Gabrianna Brooks attempted a sacrifice bunt that went for a hit when the second baseman neglected to cover first base and there were runners at the corners with one out. The Shamrocks intentionally walked Abby Zsitvey to load the bases. Angelina Dehler struck out looking that put the pressure back on the Ravens now with two outs. Third baseman Eva Pearce came through with a walk off double down the left field line for all the marbles as the celebration began with a hard fought shutout win.
Wrap Up
Empire with back to back championships just bided their time until they could take advantage of a miscue by the Shamrocks to win 1-0 in a pitcher´s duel.
Kendall Friedinger finished with an astonishing sixteen strikeouts as Yuma Catholic never figured her pitches out.
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