大象APP

Empire defeated Yuma Catholic High School 1-0 in the Class 3A state championship game at Arizona State University鈥檚 Alberta B. Farrington Softball Stadium in Tempe on Monday night.

The game remained scoreless through seven innings until Empire third baseman Eva Peace hit a walk-off single in the eighth, putting the team on the board and giving the Ravens their second state title in a row.

Last year, Empire took down Chandler Valley Christian 10-6 in the state championship.

With this year鈥檚 state title in the books, the Ravens finish the season with a 28-1 record. Their only loss came at the hands of Tanque Verde, which broke Empire鈥檚 39-game winning streak on April 21.

The loss was a 鈥渨ake-up call鈥� for the team, Empire star pitcher Kendall Freidinger told the Star before the state tournament.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of things that we need to work on, but every team has those things that they can do to get better, so I think it was good, and it just opened our eyes to these small little things that we can fix as we go into playoffs,鈥� she said.

Whatever the Ravens and Freidinger adjusted before the playoffs clearly worked.

Freidinger logged 16 strikeouts in the final game, putting her at 22 straight games where she hasn鈥檛 had less than seven, according to MaxPreps.

On their journey to the state title, Empire took down Safford, Sabino and Tanque Verde. In each game, the Ravens prevented their opponent from scoring.

鈥淕etting the opportunity to play in such big games, it puts so much pressure on you that it forces you to grow,鈥� Freidinger previously told the Star. 鈥淎nd so I think that from where I started as a freshman to where I am now is significantly (better). I鈥檝e grown a lot as a pitcher, as a person, as an overall player and it鈥檚 just been so great. And I feel like I鈥檓 so prepared for my last few months of club and then into college. I just feel like I鈥檝e gotten all the preparation that I need for that.鈥�