No. 1 Sabino will compete for its fourth straight 3A state title while No. 2 Empire is attempting to win its first championship since 2017 when the teams play Saturday at 10 a.m. at Cherry Field.
The 3A South rivals only met once during the regular season with Sabino prevailing 2-1 at home on April 4.
Sabino (29-3) has ended Empire’s season the last two years in the playoffs. They beat the Ravens (29-3) in an epic 15-inning semifinal game by a score of 1-0 in 2021 and they won 16-7 last year in another semifinal matchup.
Sabino has won the last three titles under different coaches — Chris Stainer in 2019, Kyle Howell in 2021 and Cyndi Cubillas last year. Cubillas is in her second season. The 2020 season was canceled due to COVID-19.
Empire coach Shannon Woolridge, in his 11th season as the Ravens’ head coach, led the program to state titles in 2015 and 2017.
The Ravens only have two seniors, including Ariel Schulzkump, who is one of the top catchers in Southern Arizona.
Empire sophomore ace Kendall Freidinger is 21-1 with a 0.58 ERA with 283 strikeouts and only 16 walks.
The Sabercats will counter with sophomore Avery Nielson, who is 18-1 with a 1.18 ERA with 151 strikeouts and 35 walks.
Sabino first baseman Lilly Mann is one of the top freshman prospects in the state batting .543 with 14 home runs and 61 RBIs.
Cubillas has coaches on the field with seniors Jesamin Aguilar (shortstop), Gianna Pancost (catcher), Reese McFarland (center field) and Riley McFarland (left field), all of whom are trying to win their third consecutive state championship.
Here is a statistical breakdown of the leaders for both teams:
BATTING |  |  |
RECORD | 29-1 | 29-3 |
AVERAGE | .414 | .455 |
RUNS | 299 | 361 |
HITS | 328 | 398 |
RBI | 236 | 318 |
DOUBLES | 73 | 83 |
TRIPLES | 17 | 13 |
HOME RUNS | 21 | 39 |
WALKS | 83 | 120 |
STRIKEOUTS | 100 | 139 |
PITCHING | | |
INNINGS PITCHED | 169 | 190 |
ERA | 0.87 | 1.87 |
WIN | 29 | 29 |
LOSS | 1 | 3 |
HITS | 78 | 108 |
RUNS | 27 | 68 |
EARNED RUNS | 21 | 47 |
WALKS | 28 | 54 |
STRIKEOUTS | 356 | 228 |
OPPONENT AVG. | .132 | .165 |
LEADERS | | |
AVERAGE | Angelina Dehler, SS, Soph., .570 Callista Drawbaugh, RF, Jr., .510 Abigail Zsitvay, CF, Soph., .500 | Jesamin Aguilar, SS, Sr., .591 Lilly Mann, 1B, Fr., .543 Gianna Pancost, C, Sr., .511 |
HITS | Callista Drawbaugh, RF, Jr., 52 Angelina Dehler, SS, Soph., 49 Eva Peace, LF, Soph., 42 Abigail Zsitvay, CF, Soph., 42 | Jesamin Aguilar, SS, Sr., 65 Lilly Mann, 1B, Fr., 51 Gianna Pancost, C, Sr., 48 |
HR | Eva Peace, LF, Soph., 5 Morgan Faunce, 1B, Jr., 4 Abigail Zsitvay, CF, Soph., 4 | Lilly Mann, 1B, Fr., 14 Gianna Pancost, C, Sr., 7 Jesamin Aguilar, SS, Sr., 7 |
RBI | Morgan Faunce, 1B, Jr., 39 Eva Peace, LF, Soph., 39 Angelina Dehler, SS, Soph., 34 | Lilly Mann, 1B, Fr., 61 Jesamin Aguilar, SS, Sr., 48 Gianna Pancost, C, Sr., 42 |
INNINGS PITCHED | Kendall Freidinger, RHP, Soph., 133 Callista Drawbaugh, RHP, Jr., .34 | Avery Nielson, RHP, Soph., 106.2 Sarah Ferrentino, RHP, Jr., 54.1 Ella Morse, RHP, Soph., 13 |
WINS | Kendall Freidinger, RHP, Soph., 21 Callista Drawbaugh, RHP, Jr., .7 | Avery Nielson, RHP, Soph., 18 Sarah Ferrentino, RHP, Jr., 9 |
ERA | Kendall Freidinger, RHP, Soph., 0.58 Callista Drawbaugh, RHP, Jr., 2.06 | Avery Nielson, RHP, Soph., 1.18 Sarah Ferrentino, RHP, Jr., 2.71 |
STRIKEOUTS | Kendall Freidinger, RHP, Soph., 283 Callista Drawbaugh, RHP, Jr., 69 | Avery Nielson, RHP, Soph., 151 Sarah Ferrentino, RHP, Jr., 59 Ella Morse, RHP, Soph., 16 |
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator five years ago and is presently a special education teacher at Gallego Fine Arts Intermediate in the Sunnyside Unified School District.
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