OLYMPIC LEAGUE SOFTBALL: Valley Christian shakes off rough start to win its league opener

March 25, 2026

By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X

Valley Christian High was the last team to begin Olympic League action, and the top of the first inning was not how head coach Chet Kingery envisioned his team would come out as it tries to defend its league title of last season. Heritage Christian High got to junior pitcher Rachel Zhang almost immediately as she loaded the bases on the first nine pitches thrown.

Five batters later, the Warriors had a 2-0 lead before the Defenders erupted for six runs in the bottom of the first and went on for a 7-3 victory this past Monday. V.C. improved to 5-4 and became the last of the five-team league to push its overall record north of .500.

“I’m not very happy with how we’re playing,” said Kingery. “There are a lot of things that should be cleaned up that aren’t right now, especially starting league today. I’m not worried, but I know we’ll dial it in with our days off. But we have to have better at-bats and play better defense. The defense way okay; routine outs have to be routine outs. You can’t throw the ball away on routine ground ball.”

On the fourth pitch of the game, Tatum Tassio singled to the right field gap, and Zhang walked Giselle Figueroa on four pitches. On the next pitch, the bases were loaded when Zhang hit Erika Laufer. A groundout from Aubrey Akins made it 1-0 and on the next pitch, Katilyn Sanchez singled to center to plate Figueroa.

A walk to Janice Martinez loaded the bases again before Zhang avoided further damage by inducing Summer Hill to hit into a fielder’s choice with Laufer being thrown out at home and striking out Mia Owen.

The Defenders bounced back and forced Martinez to throw 33 pitches in the bottom of the first. Senior center fielder Choyce Chambers, who is committed to Sacramento State University singled to right and went to second on an error. Then senior catcher Peyton Kingery, who will be taking her talents to the University of North Texas, was walked on four pitches. Chambers would steal third and scored on an infield hit from senior shortstop Aubrielle Ramirez.

That was followed by a run-scoring double to right field by junior right fielder Tallulah Ireland on the next pitch. Three pitches later, freshman left fielder Jade Jaquez doubled to center to bring in Ramirez and Ireland. Senior third baseman Brianna Ramirez then reached on the second of six errors by Heritage Christian in the game and a single from sophomore first baseman Molly Douglas allowed Jaquez to make it 5-2. Junior second baseman Lydia Dietz, Zhang and Chambers would all reach on a fielder’s choice to load the bases with Dietz scoring the last run of the frame.

However, the V.C. bats cooled down for the next four innings, as four runners reached base. Dietz led off the third with a double down the third base line but was stranded at third. Ireland singled with one out in the fourth but was left at second and Douglas was safe on an error to begin the fifth but was doubled up to end that threat.

“Bad pitch selection; that’s what it boils down to,” said Chet Kingery on his team offense beyond the first inning. “Not having quality at-bats, being impatient…[Martinez] was wild, but effectively, and we just got impatient and didn’t swing at good pitches. So, it was just bad at-bats. With a pitcher like that, we have to be really picky. We should have made her throw 30 pitches every inning, but we didn’t.”

The Defenders would not score again until the sixth when Martinez walked Peyton Kingery again with one out. Aubrielle Ramirez followed with a single to left and stole second. With two outs, Jaquez singled to left to end the game’s scoring.

While the offense couldn’t do much outside the first and sixth innings, Zhang was doing her part to keep her team in the game, but it wasn’t easy. She threw a combined 60 pitches in the second, third and fourth innings but the Warriors left five runners on base. They did get to Zhang in the fourth when Tassio singled with one out, stole second and scored on a two-out single from Laufer.

But Zhang worked a perfect fifth and sixth inning and finished the game striking out eight batters, allowing six hits and walking four batters while throwing 128 pitches.

“It’s been a week since she’s thrown [in a game],” said Chet Kingery. “But we have to come out and be better; be mentally tougher than that and go out and attack hitters right away.”

V.C. collected nine hits with Ireland, Jaquez and Aubrielle Ramirez all collecting a pair of hits. As one of two freshmen on the team, Jaquez isn’t playing as a freshman as she is batting .333 and is one of five players with at least 10 hits.

“Jade had good at-bats; Jade has been swinging the bat well,” said Chet Kingery. “The kid goes up there, and she looks to drive the ball, and that’s what I like about her.”

This was the seventh straight win over Heritage Christian, which used to be Los Angeles Baptist High, and at 30-12 over the Warriors since 2005, it’s the most victories for V.C. over any school in the CIF-Southern Section. The Defenders went to Village Christian High on Mar. 26 and will not be in action until an Apr. 7 matchup at Kennedy High.

“The Olympic League is getting tougher; talent is starting to get to the private schools in the league,” said Chet Kingery. “Every game is going to be tough, and you have to play at your best in every game. Being at 4-4 we really pushed ourselves hard this year with a tougher non-league schedule. We still have Cal High coming up, we still have Kennedy coming up and that’s not taking away with Village on Thursday.”