As the pitches mounted during the Class 5A state softball championship game on Saturday, Palo Verde pitcher Ava Koenig might have lost a touch of velocity.
No problem. Koenig’s changeup proved to be pretty devastating, too.
Koenig struck out nine, including the last batter of the game with the pitch, to lead the Panthers to a 4-0 win over Bishop Manogue at Faith Lutheran for the team’s second consecutive state title. It’s the program’s fifth softball title.
“Honestly, the adrenaline at the end of the game kind of picked me up,” said Koenig, who allowed four hits with one walk. “And throwing my changeup a lot helps me with being tired, so that was good.”
Koenig, who has signed with Boston University, and Manogue’s Sammi Boggs, who has signed with Iowa State, were locked in a pitchers’ duel early. But Palo Verde (24-1) broke through against the hard-throwing Boggs in the third.
Palo Verde shortstop Taylor Johns may be known primarily for her power after smacking 21 home runs this season, but she got the rally started with a one-out infield single.
Johns, who has signed with Georgia, stole second and scored when Kayleen Enriquez lined a double down the left-field line.
Enriquez stole third and scored on Koenig’s line-drive single to left to make it 2-0.
“I trusted my offense that we would come through at the end,” Koenig said. “So I was just trying to get outs and not let too many runners on at once, because I knew we were going to score.”
Palo Verde added a pair of runs in the fourth. Haley Kearnes led off with a shot down the left-field line for a double. Halle Law, who bats eighth in a tough Palo Verde lineup, then crushed a 2-2 pitch into the trees beyond the fence in left to make it 4-0.
“We all knew that she was a good pitcher and this was going to be a pitchers’ battle,” said Kearnes, who went 2-for-3. “I think we are very good with adjusting to the pitches, and we just as a team have a good strength to just adjust in general.”
Northern champion Manogue (32-5) had its best chance to score came in the sixth when Loralei Hysell led off with a sharp single through the right side, and Kiki Harris hit a ground-rule double to put runners on second and third with no outs.
Reese Vaulet then hit a grounder to third that Enriquez charged to field on one hop. She looked the runner back and gunned down Vaulet at first. Koenig then struck out Kaylee Sangez and retired Olivia Rodriguez on a comebacker to the circle to get out of the jam.
“She was on it,” Kearnes said of Koenig. “She told me at the beginning of the game she was feeling good. She was on her ‘A’ game. And I knew this adrenaline was going to push her and she did her best today.”
Koenig got some help from a strong defense. The Panthers played errorless ball, and came up with a couple of stellar plays in the second inning to help preserve the shutout. Alexis Kearnes made a diving catch in left field for the first out, and Enriquez made another strong play on a chopper off the bat of Averie Stephan, charging the ball hard and fielding an awkward hop barehanded before gunning the runner out at first.
“They played lights out,” Palo Verde coach Angel Council said. “They had solid defense, the pitching was right on where it needed to be and then our lineup came through when we really needed to come though. And that’s all I can ask for as a coach.”
