TEMPE — Top-seeded Empire earned its second consecutive 3A state championship and fourth in the last 10 years with Monday night’s 1-0 victory following Eva Peace’s walk-off single with two outs in the bottom of the eighth over No. 3 Yuma Catholic at Arizona State’s Farrington Stadium.
Empire’s senior ace Kendall Freidinger, who went 20-1 this season, struck out 16 batters and walked one in her complete-game one-hitter.
Empire (28-1) improved to 45-1 dating to the end of last season, which was capped by its 10-6 win over Valley Christian in the championship game.
Peace’s single in the bottom of the eighth Monday night occurred after Lainey Kroeger and Gabrianna Brooks each singled with one out.
After Abby Zsitvay was intentionally walked to create an out at any base and a strikeout of the next batter, Peace, a senior, followed with a line-drive single to left field on a 1-1 pitch from Cherish Trujillo (24-3) to score Kroeger for the winning run.
Freidinger, who is headed to Weber State, kept Yuma Catholic (25-5) without a hit until Mailyn Milan hit a single with one out in the seventh inning.
Empire had an opportunity to score the first run in the sixth inning when Zsitvay’s single went to right field and Ahna Dhaliwal ran from second base to home. The throw from right fielder Kodi Leigh to home plate was in time for the out.
Trujillo stayed in a pitcher’s duel with Freidinger throughout. She allowed seven hits in 7 2/3 innings with two strikeouts and a walk.
Empire’s victory also means a team from Southern Arizona has won a state title at this level since 2015.
The champions in that span:
2015 — Empire
2016 — Catalina Foothills
2017 — Empire
2018 — Sahuarita
2019 — Sabino
2020 — Cancellation because of COVID-19
2021 — Sabino
2022 — Sabino
2023 — Sabino
2024 — Empire
2025 — Empire
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