No. 2 Empire ends Holbrook’s breakout season

PHOENIX

The Holbrook softball team had its breakout season halted in the quarterfinals of the Arizona 3A state playoffs.

The 10th seeded Lady Roadrunners fell to No. 2 seed Empire as the Tucson school scored a 15-2 win over Holbrook last Friday night at the Papago Softball Complex in Phoenix.

“Empire is definitely deserving of being the No. 2 ranked team in the 3A Conference,” Holbrook coach Scott Baker said. “Their pitcher was the best we faced all season. Her ability to work the top part of the strike zone and with her velocity and the use of her rise ball makes her tough to hit.”

The Holbrook coach was referring to Kendall Freidinger as the Empire ace allowed two runs on two hits while striking out 12 batters.

The two runs she gave up came in the top of the fourth when Holbrook catcher Sarah Slim hit a two-run homer in left field that cut Empire’s lead down to 8-2.

“Sarah was about the only one to really put the barrel on the ball and get a solid connection,” Baker said. “She’s a strong kid and can really do some damage in the middle of our order.

“I was really happy for her that she was able to come through in that moment to get us on the scoreboard,” he added.

The Lady Ravens plated seven runs to close out the fourth and ended the contest in the top of the fifth.

In the circle, Holbrook started the game with sophomore Tamryn Baldonado as she pitched 3.2 innings while junior Natalie Patterson came in as relief.

The Ravens scattered 12 hits on the Roadrunners.

“Overall, their team is solid from top to bottom,” Baker said. “There was no easy out in their lineup and they all contributed.”

Holbrook ended the season at 19-11 overall, which includes a 7-3 mark in the 3A East Region.

To get to the quarterfinals, the Roadrunners run-ruled Chinle in the play-in game in late April and earlier last week Holbrook scored five runs in the top of the seventh to score an 11-10 come-from-behind win over No. 7 seed Phoenix Northwest Christian.

“The comeback win over Northwest Christian was our program’s first playoff win since 2007, and our first opportunity to play in a playoff game since 2018,” Baker said. “It was a back and forth game, and our girls did an amazing job of keeping their composure throughout.”

In that rally, the Holbrook coach said his club hit back-to-back homers from Baldonado and Slim with the latter tying the game.

“The momentum was heavily in our favor at that point, and we were able to get runners on second and third,” Baker said. “Another one of our fastest players, Elizabeth Paschal, scored on a wild pitch.”

To close out the comeback win, Holbrook got some big defensive plays with Baldonado giving her teammates a couple of playable balls to record outs.

“We had an amazing shoestring catch near the right foul line,” Baker said. “Both teams finished with three errors apiece, but it was a relatively clean game with a lot of solid defensive plays by both teams.”

The Roadrunners will be losing seven seniors to graduation including three starters in Riley Reidhead, Angelique Tyler and Macy Moore.

“They played great for us and have been a part of our varsity team for four years,” Baker said. “That experience alone is hard to replace. All our seniors are such great kids that contribute so much to the program both on and off the field.

“We will miss them,” he added.

Baker said the season looks promising for next year as he looking to return his two primary pitchers. In addition, the Roadrunners will have its starting catcher, a solid infielder and “one of the best outfielders in the state” returning.

“We will have to move some pieces around and of course find some contributors from the bench and from our JV squad, but I’m confident that we will continue to be successful thanks to the foundation that has been laid from the 2022 and 2023 seniors,” he said.

Baker said the other teams in the 3A East are also losing some key pieces so he’s confident that his club will be able to compete for back-to-back region titles.

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