Empire High School wins back-to-back state softball titles

The Empire High School Ravens are state softball champions once again.

Empire defeated Yuma Catholic High School 1-0 in the Class 3A state championship game at Arizona State University’s 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’s 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’s 39-game winning streak on April 21.

The loss was a “wake-up call” for the team, Empire star pitcher Kendall Freidinger told the Star before the state tournament.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

“There’s 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,” 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’t 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.

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