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The Ray Lady Bearcats won the Division V State Championship on Monday night at Arizona State University.
It’s never easy to beat the same team twice.
Those words proved to be true in Monday night’s 2016 AIA Division V Softball State Championship Game between top-seed Ray and No. 2-seed Santa Cruz at Arizona State’s Farrington Stadium.
The two teams met earlier this season on Mar. 25 and the Lady Cats made it look easy, defeating the Dust Devils 11 – 2 in game that was highlighted by Ray’s seven-run seventh inning.
Ray’s Stormee Galka throws a pitch during Monday night’s Division V State Champoinship Game.
Ironically, it was another seven-run inning on Monday night by the Lady Cats that proved to be the difference in a game much closer than the previous one between the teams. Ray scored seven runs in the decisive third-inning and held off Santa Cruz in the late innings to win its first State Championship in 21 years, 7 -5.
Santa Cruz struck early, scoring a pair of unearned runs in the first inning.
Ray pitcher Stormee Galka walked the leadoff hitter before an error gave the Dust Devils a pair of base-runners. Two infield outs plated the first two runs of the game to give Santa Cruz a 2 – 0 lead.
The score remained that way until Ray’s half of the third.
Daniella Hinojos (21) slides in safely at first base.
Ashely Ortiz, Janae Ruiz and Galka hit consecutive singles off of Santa Cruz starter Taylor Gil. Tara Lorona was the next hitter and the freshman shortstop drove in all three runners with a bases-clearing triple to give Ray a 3 – 2 lead.
“I just knew I had to put the ball in play,” Lorona said after the game about her key at bat. “I knew I had to get a base-hit and the triple only made it better.”
Senior Savannah Willis followed with a single, scoring Lorona to make it 4 – 2.
The bases were loaded again after Daniella Hinojos was hit by a pitch and Ema Alverado walked. Gil retired the next two hitters before Ashley Ortiz hit two-out, two-run single, increasing the Lady Cats’ lead to 6 – 2. Ruiz, one of three Ray hitters to bat twice in the inning, drove in the seventh run with an RBI-single.
All told the Lady Cats sent 12 hitters to the plate and plated seven of them in the third.
“We knew to try to be picky (against Gil),” Ortiz told AIA reporter Les Willsey. “Just watch the ball. Both pitches I hit were down the middle.”
Santa Cruz scored a pair of runs on three hits in the fourth to make it 7 – 4 and the Dust Devils had a chance to do some damage in the fifth, when they loaded the bases with no outs. Galka walked the fourth batter of the inning to allow a run, but the Player of the Year candidate retired the next three hitters in order to work out of the no-outs, bases-loaded jam surrendering any more runs.
Galka gave up a leadoff hit in the seventh, but the runner was erased on a double-play line out by the next Santa Cruz hitter. The State Championship clinching out came on a fly ball to center field.
Ray’s left-handed senior starter finished the complete-game victory, allowing five runs – three earned – on eight hits with two walks and eight strikeouts.
Ashley Ortiz led the Lady Cats at the plate, going 3-for-3 with a pair of RBI. Janae Ruiz and Savannah Willis each had two hits and, of course, Lorona had a game-high three RBI.
“It’s the most rewarding and it feels good,” Ray head coach Rikki Galka answered when asked what it was like to see her team reach the goal it set in February. “I said many times this is my team. This team is the best I’ve coached at Ray. They came together as a family and they took care of each other. They wanted it and they never gave up.”
Galka was asked to describe her feelings about bringing the first state championship since 1995 back to Kearny.
“It’s just awesome because our school is a small school and we have pride, we work hard and it feels good to do something for our school and our community,” she responded. “These kids deserve it. They’ve worked hard since day one – for years.”
Monday night all the hard work finally paid off.
Congratulations, Ray Lady Bearcats’ players, coaches, and staff!
Andrew Luberda began writing for Copper Area News Publishers (CANP) in February 2013 after working 15 years in Healthcare Financial Management. Andy covers sports for 11 high schools. His stories are published in Copper Basin News, San Manuel Miner and Superior Sun, in addition to the San Tan Valley Daily PRSS and CopperArea websites. Additionally, he has written human interest stories and business profiles. In May 2012, he earned an AAS in Sports Management at Central Arizona College before graduating with a BS in Communication from Arizona State University in 2014. He and his wife, Kelli, have three sons – AJ, Kyle, and Kade.
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