D-IV softball: Valley Christian tops Ray for finals berth

May 16, 2014 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


Mara Kemmer didn't pitch to contact on Friday in Valley Christian's Divsion IV semfinal against Ray. She seldom did the this season. Kemmer fanned 16 and tossed a one-hitter leading the 9th-seed Lady Trojans to a 5-0 victory over the No.4 Lady Bearcats at Rose Mofford Softball Complex.

Valley Christian (20-10) plays for the school's first-ever softball title on Saturday (May 17) at 5:30 p.m. against defending champ San Manuel. No. 2 seed San Manuel came back from a 2-0 deficit to beat No. 3 Veritas, 8-2, in the other semifinal at Rose Mofford.

Valley Christian scored all its runs in the third against Ray sophomore left-hander Stormee Galka. VC sent 10 batters to the plate in the third with the big hit a grand slam by freshman Jez Graf. Graf connected on an 0-2 pitch just after teammate Hailey Heeringa delivered the first run on an infield single.

Kemmer, also a sophomore, allowed only a leadoff single to Galka to open the game and a two-out walk to Galka in the third. Kemmer struck out 11 different players, fanned 12 of them swinging and retired the final 13 batters she faced. Valley Christian has won its last nine games in a row. VC and Ray did not meet during the regular season.