Cactus finishes perfect season

TUCSON - To the victors go the spoils.

For Glendale Cactus' softball players, it was a chance to spray apple juice on each other from champagne-shaped bottles.

For Cactus coach, Jeff Griffith, it was a shower of crushed ice from the water cooler. He turned his head to the side and tapped it lightly with his hand. Several pieces fell out of his ear.

"Oooh, that's cold," he said.
  
Cold, yes, but no team in the state and few in the nation were hotter than Cactus this season.

Cactus completed a perfect 38-0 season and captured its second straight championship with a 1-0 victory over Class 4A Wells Fargo Region rival Peoria Centennial on Saturday night at Hi Corbett Field. Cactus also defeated Centennial for last year's title and went 33-1.

Cactus did it the way it has all season with two sophomores playing primary roles.

Shortstop Stacie Chambers provided the only run with an opposite-field home run to left field in the third inning. It was her 20th homer of the season.

And pitcher Katie Holverson ran her record to 37-0 this season and 47-0 for her career by scattering five hits and striking out five.

She also survived a scare when she was struck in the midsection by a line drive off the bat of Ashlie Rosenberg leading off the fourth inning.

After taking a few moments to regain her composure, she continued to sling the ball.

"I was terrified - I'm not going to lie to you," she said. "But I wasn't going to come out."

As she had on three previous occasions this season, Holverson dueled Britnee Barnett, Centennial's pitcher. Barnett gave up just three hits in pitching one of her best games of the season.

The left-handed-hitting Chambers unloaded and the ball cleared the fence.

Did Griffith know it was gone?

"I was talking to it," he said. "Yeah, I've heard that sound 19 times before that one. To hit 20 in a season is amazing."

Chambers said she didn't know if it was out.

"I just hit the ball, and if it goes . . . I found out when I reached first base," she said.

Chambers was intentionally walked in the fifth.

"It was kind of scary being out there tonight," Chambers said. "We were nervous, because Centennial is a team that can come back at any time."

Centennial (30-7) had runners reach third in the first, fourth and fifth innings but couldn't score.

"Centennial had nothing to lose, but we didn't buckle under pressure," Griffith said.

He said he couldn't let on that he was nervous, and assistants Lori Helmer and Pete Lara helped keep him grounded.

Centennial coach Bartt Underwood was disappointed in the outcome but pleased with the overall season.

"If you asked me if I expected to get here again, I probably would have said no, but I did tell the girls that we would have a chance if we all got along and worked hard together," he said.