Aubrey stumbles as Robinson’s prolific offense clicks in 4AII softball state title bout

AUSTIN — Robinson needed a spectacular defensive play to keep its season alive last week. But once in Austin, its prolific offense once again came to the forefront to deny Aubrey its first softball state title.

Baylor signee Kaygen Marshall and Baylor pledge Raelynn Van Zee homered, and Van Zee drove in five runs as Robinson beat Aubrey 10-1 in the Class 4A Division II state championship game Friday at the University of Texas’ Red & Charline McCombs Field.

Photos from Aubrey's Class 4A Division II state softball title game

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Aubrey (33-4) saw its 11-game winning streak end and fell to 0-3 in state championship games after losing in the 2A state final in 2004 and 2007. This was Aubrey’s third straight deep playoff run, as it was a state semifinalist in 2023 and a regional finalist last year, but it came up short in its bid to become the first Dallas-area team to win state in the UIL’s third-largest classification since Celina in 2011.

“Super proud of this team. Today’s game is not the entire story of our team,” Aubrey coach James Ramsey said. “Obviously you don’t want to get out here and have it end this way, but it’s tough to get here and it’s even tougher to win once you get down here.”

Ramsey was trying to win his second state championship in 13 years. He won a 2A state title as the head coach at Pilot Point in 2013.

Robinson (37-3), making its first appearance in a state championship game since winning the 3A title in 1999, got a dominant all-around game from Van Zee, a junior who was named the game’s MVP. Van Zee, a two-sport athlete who also plays volleyball, was 3 for 4 and hit a solo home run in the third, an RBI double in the fourth and a three-run double in the fifth in addition to pitching a five-hitter and striking out eight.

“I’m really overwhelmed right now,” said Van Zee, who finished 31-2 as a pitcher. “This is crazy. This is everything I dreamed of. As soon as I got off the volleyball court, I put in that work. I do workouts every day.”

Robinson barely made it to the state final, having to throw out a runner at home who was trying to score the winning run for Ingleside on a hit in the bottom of the eighth to keep the score tied 3-3 in Game 3 of the teams’ state semifinal series. That kept Robinson’s season alive, and it scored 11 runs in the top of the ninth to win 14-3 and advance.

“Our defense has been there the whole year, and our offense has been there the whole year,” Robinson coach Jimmy Eby said. “I’m not surprised. This team is good. We fought the whole playoffs.”

Robinson has been one of the top offensive teams in the state and came into Friday averaging 10.2 runs per game with a .373 team batting average, 70 home runs and 168 extra-base hits in its first 39 games. Aubrey star pitcher Mya Cherry, a Texas Woman’s University signee, was 25-1 with a 0.87 ERA but couldn’t slow down Van Zee, who tied the 4A record for most RBIs in a state tournament game to pace an offense that had nine hits.

Van Zee had a share of that record for only a couple of hours. Corpus Christi Calallen’s Braelyn Bailey set a new record with six RBIs in a 9-2 win over Andrews in the 4A Division I state title game that followed Robinson’s win.

Marshall gave Robinson a 1-0 lead with a solo homer in the bottom of the first, her 17th home run of the season. Cherry walked the first two hitters in the bottom of the second but then got a fielder’s choice grounder and pop out before ending the inning by striking out Robinson phenom Lexi Rosillo, a Louisiana-Monroe pledge who came into Friday hitting .519 with a school-record 24 home runs, 65 runs and 71 RBIs.

Aubrey tied it 1-1 in the top of the third on a long RBI single by Molly Reid on an 0-2 pitch. The tie didn’t last long, as Van Zee hit a blast over the left-field wall that is 200 feet away in the bottom of the third for her 12th homer of the year and a 2-1 Robinson lead.

That was the start of a four-run third inning for Robinson that included a two-run bloop single by Addison Williams, and Van Zee’s RBI double in the bottom of the fourth gave Robinson a 6-1 lead. Aubrey had trailed in just two of its first nine playoff games, but Friday was the first time it had allowed more than eight runs this season.

It was a game of missed opportunities for Aubrey, which came into the game averaging 8.4 runs per game but left nine runners on base. Aubrey couldn’t score after a leadoff double in the second or after the first two hitters reached in the fourth, and it only scored once in the third inning despite three hits.

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