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Ray High School win 1A State Softball Championship. Photo by Kelli Luberda
The Ray and Superior softball teams were both trying to make history on Monday night at Arizona State’s Farrington Stadium, the site of the 2017 1A Softball State Championship game.
Superior’s Lindsay Ketron slides in safely after hitting a triple.
The top-seeded Lady Cats were seeking a repeat after winning the state title a year ago while the No. 2-seed Lady Panthers were looking to win their second state championship in three years.
In what turned out to be an unexpected pitcher’s duel, Ray starting pitcher Daniella Hinojos and her Lady Cats’ teammates bested Superior starter Kiki Arriola and the Lady Panthers, 1 – 0.
Superior’s Yuvithzia Romero is tagged out by Ray’s Ema Alverado during Monday’s Championship Game.
Ray entered Monday’s game having defeated Superior in three games earlier this season by a combined score of 36 – 11.
“No one expected a 1 – 0 game,” Ray head coach Curt Cook said after the game. “Hats off to Superior, both teams grinded tonight and either team could’ve won this thing.”
“It was a pitching duel,” Superior head coach Martin Navarrette added. “One little hit and couple of bunts here and there was the difference in the game.”
Both teams showing sportsmanship.
Hinojos, who threw a no-hitter against Valley Lutheran last week, threw a complete-game shutout against Superior, a team that averaged more than 10 runs per game this season. Arriola nearly matched Ray’s 22-game winner.
“Kiki threw an outstanding game too,” Cook told Copper Area News. “Both pitchers moved the ball in and out, up and down the whole game.”
The game was scoreless through the first four innings, in which both starters combined for nine strikeouts and pitched out of trouble in the same inning.
Hinojos stranded Superior runners at first and third in the top of the fourth. After Ray got the first two hitters on in its half of the inning, Arriola retired the next three Lady Cats’ batters in order without allowing a run.
Superior is presented with State Runner-Up Trophy.
“Absolutely not,” Navarrette answered when asked if he could’ve expected any more from his right-handed junior pitcher. “She struggled all year against them, but she shut them down and did what she needed to do.”
The lone run of the game came in the fifth, when Ray sophomore Amee Kenyon hit a leadoff double, advanced to third on a bunt hit by Janae Ruiz, and scored on an RBI-single by Tara Lorona.
Ray loaded the bases later in the fifth with only one out, but Arriola again avoided further damage, fanning a hitter before fielding a comebacker and throwing to first for the third out of the inning.
“We’ve struggled the last couple of weeks with timely hitting, but the pitchers were great tonight and both showed great composure,” Cook said.
Superior sophomore Lindsay Ketron gave her team some hope in the sixth, hitting one-out triple off the right-field wall, but she was left stranded after Hinojos retired the next two Lady Panthers’ batters.
The Ray right-hander retired the side in order in the seventh to clinch the Lady Cats’ second-straight state championship.
“For the school, it’s a great accomplishment,” Cook said about the back-to-back championships. “For the players, it’s the fulfillment of a goal they set out to do. To see them achieve it two years in-a-row has been a joy.”
Despite the loss, Navarrette was proud of his young team – sans any seniors – and is confident it has what it takes for a return trip to the championship game a year from now.
“I think we did well even though we came up short,” he said. “(Our girls) did an excellent job and proved to us they had heart. They didn’t quit with their backs against the wall.”
“We will be back here next year,” Navarrette added. “Take nothing away from Ray, they have a good team. We look forward to seeing them again.”
Copper Area softball fans would certainly welcome a rematch.
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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