EUGENE – Vale's Sophia Navarrete punctuated a brilliant freshman softball season with an historic victory Friday in the OSAA/OnPoint Community Credit Union 3A final at the University of Oregon.
In a pitching duel with South Umpqua senior Jasmine Morales, Navarrete tossed a two-hitter with eight strikeouts and no walks to propel the top-seeded Vikings to a 1-0, nine-inning win, giving them their first state championship.
“She lives and breathes softball, and the tough games,” Vale coach Cirbi Morrison said. “She loves pressure. I've not seen anybody play under pressure and be able to handle it like she does. Her being only 15 years old, she's something special. She's going to do phenomenal things.”
Navarrete, who entered the game with a 0.53 ERA, finished the season with 208 strikeouts and eight walks in 101 1/3 innings. She also led the team in batting average (.675), home runs (11) and RBIs (55).
With Navarrete showing the way, Vale (30-0) became the first softball team to go undefeated since Burns/Crane went 29-0 in 2023.
“I can't thank anyone but my team,” Navarrete said. “They have an amazing defense. Just being with them made it a thousand times better. They made an amazing season unforgettable.”
Navarrete kept No. 2 South Umpqua (27-3) in check long enough for Vale to break through against Morales, who held the Vikings hitless through eight innings.
Sophomore Kayci Shira led off the bottom of the ninth with a double to left-center, and with one out, she moved to third base on a passed ball. She scored on a deep single into the left-field corner by sophomore Braelyn Keller.
Up until the final inning, the Vikings did not even put a runner in scoring position against Morales, who finished with 17 strikeouts, two walks and one hit batter.
“She is awesome,” Navarrete said of Morales, a transfer from 6A Roseburg. “I've played club ball from probably 8U to now, and she's one of the best pitchers I've seen. Her spins are just amazing.”
As the game unfolded, and Navarrete and Morales continued to dominate, the tension thickened.
“We each got better with our spin and location,” Morales said. “Definitely, the pressure started to come on later in the game. We both battled out there.”
Morrison encouraged her hitters to hang tough against Morales.
“I kept telling the girls, 'We're seeing it, where every at-bat is getting better and better,'” Morrison said. “'It's going to bust open, just keep putting your heads down and grinding.' And that's exactly what they did.”
Shira's lead-off double sent a jolt of energy through the Vikings.
“The whole dugout just went crazy,” Keller said. “It's just a domino effect when we get so excited. We knew it was our turn.”
Heading up to the plate on her final at-bat, Keller said her teammates told her to do it for the Twisters, their former youth team. Keller looked for an inside pitch, got it and punched it.
“That's my pitch,” Keller said. “I just love to get it way out in front and just crush it, and that's what I did. I was like, 'Oh, here we go.' I was praying, and God was telling me, 'It's your turn.'”
Morrison said: “Braelyn has come up clutch for us before. She's determined. She loves the big moments. She just got all of that.”
Morales, committed to Division II Union University in Tennessee, credited Keller for the hit.
“Definitely, she put a good swing on it,” said Morales, who finished the season with 292 strikeouts. “Their first hit, I did leave it out over the plate a little bit.
“My location, my spin, was all there today. Obviously, the last inning didn't go as we wanted to, but I thought I did really good today. My performance was probably the best so far.”
For Vale, the win was redemption for the half of its roster that also played on the school's state runner-up basketball team this year. Morrison said the two senior basketball players – Bailey Blake and Izzy Maag – were especially motivated.
“They said, 'That is not happening again,'” Morrison said.
jerryu@osaa.org
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