Valley Christian High sophomore pitcher Rachel Zhang delivers one of her 66 pitches in the bottom of the first inning against Whittier Christian High. She allowed just two hits, both in the inning and on consecutive pitches as the Defenders posted a 14-1 victory. Zhang struck out four and walked two in the five-inning contest. PHOTOS BY STEVE FERICEAN.
May 7, 2025
By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X
LA HABRA-In one of its biggest offensive showings of the season, Valley Christian High not only snapped an 11-game losing streak to Whittier Christian High, the queens of the Olympic League, they showed no mercy with the bats. The Defenders broke an early 1-1 tie with five runs in the top of the second inning and after adding a run in each of the next two innings, pounded out six more in the fifth.
The result was an emphatic 14-1 victory over the Heralds last Thursday, keeping V.C.’s hopes of a rare Olympic League title alive at the time. V.C. was hoping for a miracle and got it earlier this past week. By virtue of a 13-2 win at Village Christian High this past Monday and a 16-0 win against Maranatha High this past Tuesday, coupled with Heritage Christian High upsetting Whittier Christian, the Defenders jumped over the Heralds for first place and captured the program’s first league title since 2014 and eighth since 2003.
“Obviously, we all know they’re a good team, but we picked up on something last time we played them; off [Whittier Christian pitcher] Bobbi Lozano’s arm for us offensively as far as her pitch sequence,” said V.C. head coach Chet Kingery. “We played a little game with them; acted like we knew what they were calling, but we had no idea what they were calling. We really worked on that in [batting practice] all week, and we found the barrel and hit the ball hard off them.”
V.C. (15-5-1, 7-1) set the tone on the second pitch of the top of the first inning when junior center fielder Choyce Chambers sent a Lozano pitch over the left center fence for a home run. The Heralds answered back in their half of the inning when Rylee Cull singled with one out and scored on the next pitch when Sofia Hernandez tripled down the right field line. Those would be the only two hits sophomore pitcher Rachel Zhang allowed in the five-inning contest. In fact, three other runners would reach base; two on walks and the other on an error, while Zhang struck out four batters and threw 66 pitches.
But the story of the game was the offense, and a lot of it. The Defenders batted around in the second, aided by a pair of errors that put junior designated player Brianna Ramirez and freshman third baseman Molly Douglas on base. Two batters later and now with two outs, Chambers singled to left to drive in a pair of runs. Then junior catcher Peyton Kingery brought in Chambers with a double to the left field fence. Lozano walked senior first baseman Kayla Martin and on the next pitch, a double from senior shortstop Britton Brown plated freshman courtesy runner Jewel Malae and Martin to chase Lozano from the circle. But even with a 6-1 lead this early in the game, Chet Kingery said he would not be comfortable until the final out of the game.
Valley Christian High junior designated player Brianna Ramirez safely slides into second base after reaching on an error in the top of the second inning last Thursday against Whittier Christian High. She would later score the eventual game-winning run on a single from junior center fielder Choyce Chambers as the Defenders pounded the Heralds 14-1. PHOTO BY STEVE FERICEAN.
“Just because I know how they are as a team,” he said. “They hit the ball very well and they’re a very good team. No lead is safe against a team like that.”
Sofia Gonzalez walked senior left fielder Zoee Barrett to lead off the third and after a wild pitch, scored on another error to make it 7-1. In the next inning, Chambers led off with a single to center, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and stole home.
Barrett and Ramirez began the fifth inning with base hits and after both were moved over on a sacrifice from Douglas, junior second baseman Aubrielle Ramirez drove in two runs with a single to right. After the second out, Kingery singled to right followed by a walk to Martin and a double from Brown. The final hit of the game was a two-run single from sophomore right fielder Tallulah Ireland.
Brown and Chambers each had three hits while Kingery and Ramirez each added a pair. Every starter, plus Malae either had a hit, drove in a run or scored and eight of the 10 players touched home plate at least once. The 14 runs scored were the sixth most at the time and the 13 hits collected were the fifth most at the time in any game this season.
“That just goes to the work we put in during the week,” said Chet Kingery. “We work hard on the defensive side, but we work equally as hard on the offensive side. You still have to hit to win, and your lineup is always good as the backup player. We try to make everybody equal across the board so we don’t have a weak link in our chain.”
While nothing was clinched by the time the game was over, there was a brief message sent to the team as it still had two more league contests to play before the end of the regular season.
“Celebrate your hard work today, but back to the drawing board tomorrow for Monday,” said Chet Kingery.
The CIF-Southern Section divisional playoff brackets will be released on Monday and according to the latest power rankings that came out this past Tuesday, the Defenders are ranked 78th.
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