Palo Verde’s softball team might not be undefeated heading into the final game of the season, like it was when it won the 5A state title last year.
But the Panthers have put together just as dominant of a postseason effort to get back to the title game this year.
Palo Verde rolled to another win at the Class 5A softball state tournament, defeating Northern champion Bishop Manogue 8-1 in a winners bracket state semifinal Friday at Faith Lutheran.
“It feels good,” Palo Verde coach Angelique Council said. “They make it easy on us. They are great softball players, not just mentally, but physically some of the best softball players I’ve ever coached.”
Palo Verde (23-1) will play Northern champion Bishop Manogue (32-4) at 10 a.m. Saturday at Faith Lutheran for the title. Manogue must beat Palo Verde twice to claim the title since the Panthers have not lost in the double-elimination tournament.
Manogue defeat Arbor View 8-6 in an elimination game later on Friday, following its loss to Palo Verde, to advance to Saturday’s championship round.
Palo Verde is looking to be the first team in the top classification to win back-to-back titles since Centennial won consecutive 4A titles in 2012 and 2013. The program is looking to win its fifth softball title after going 25-0 to win the crown last year.
The Panthers opened the state tournament with a 15-0 three-inning mercy rule win over Reed, and have outscored their opponents 69-16 in their six postseason games, which included going 4-0 in last week’s Southern Region tournament.
“They deal with adversity very well,” Council said. “We’ve had adversity all season, and I think that they just put that into perspective and they always come on top.”
Palo Verde rolls
On Friday, Palo Verde got another strong start from senior pitcher Ava Koenig. The Boston University commit threw a complete game with seven strikeouts and allowed one run in three hits.
“I felt good,” said Koenig, who dealt with an injury through most of the season and pitched all three innings against Reed on Thursday. “I didn’t feel as week as I thought I would feel in the seventh inning, so I’m glad with that and hopefully I cam come out (Saturday) fresh, like I did (Friday).”
Koenig helped herself out at the plate, getting an RBI single to start a four-run first inning for the Panthers, which included a Samantha Williams RBI double and Haley Kearnes two-run single.
“It lets me go one pitch at a time without thing about the other factors of the game,” Koenig said of working with an early 4-0 lead. “That was good, just some comfort and not too much pressure even when runners got on.”
Georgia commit Taylor Johns blasted a three-run home run to centerfield in the fourth inning, and Ava Cruz added a solo homer in the fifth for Palo Verde. All nine Panthers reached base and eight scored runs.
“It makes it harder for the other team, to be honest,” Koenig said of the versatility of Palo Verde’s lineup. “You never know who’s going to get a hit or home run, or who’s going to steal a base. It keeps (the opponents) off balance.”
Arbor View eliminated
Earlier Friday, Arbor View (27-11) crushed Reed 16-0 in an elimination game, which ended in five innings via the mercy rule, to get a crack at Manogue. Reed finished 27-13.
The later elimination game was shaping up to be another tight contest, after Manogue edged Arbor View 2-1 in eight innings on a walk-off home run, with a 3-3 game heading into the bottom of the fifth inning.
Then Manogue broke the game open with with a five-run fifth inning, highlighted by a Kaylee Sanchez grand slam.
Arbor View trailed 8-3, and chipped away at the deficit in the sixth when Lilly Easton scored on an error and Alyssa Castillo had an RBI single. The Aggies got a home run from Peyton Williams in the seventh, but reliever Brooklyn Kyler retired the next three batters to send the Miners to the championship.
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
