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Ridgeview’s Brezlyn Hagemeister (3) pitches to a Summit batter during the game on Friday at Ridgeview High School. 04/25/25 (Joe Kline/The Bulletin)

Ridgeview’s Anahi Ornelas-Diaz fields a ground ball during the game on Friday at Ridgeview High School. 04/25/25 (Joe Kline/The Bulletin)

Summit’s Payton Wyant (10) pitches to a Ridgeview batter during the game on Friday at Ridgeview High School. 04/25/25 (Joe Kline/The Bulletin)

Summit’s Janey Korfhage (9) makes a leaping catch at short during the game on Friday at Ridgeview High School. 04/25/25 (Joe Kline/The Bulletin)

Ridgeview’s Brooklyn Lick (6) hits a home run during the game on Friday at Ridgeview High School. 04/25/25 (Joe Kline/The Bulletin)

Summit’s Ellie Zurovsky (3) catches a fly ball in the outfield during the game on Friday at Ridgeview High School. 04/25/25 (Joe Kline/The Bulletin)

Ridgeview’s Kasidy Osborn (15) snags a foul ball for an out during the game on Friday at Ridgeview High School. 04/25/25 (Joe Kline/The Bulletin)

Ridgeview’s Kasidy Osborn (15) and Brezlyn Hagemeister (3) celebrate after a catch by Osborn during the game on Friday at Ridgeview High School. 04/25/25 (Joe Kline/The Bulletin)

REDMOND – After a couple of gap years, the Ridgeview High School softball team is back to what it had been doing for half a decade – rolling through the Intermountain Conference.

At the center of the undefeated Ravens’ season, the team has won each of its 15 games and all six of its conference games, is pitcher Brezlyn Hagemeister.

The sophomore right-hander has been in the pitcher’s circle for 14 of the Ravens’ 15 games this season and no Class 5A team has surrendered more than the Ravens’ 27.

On Friday, she struck out 11 Summit batters in a Ridgeview 3-0 win and only allowed three base runners. In three games last week, she struck out 41 batters, including an 18-strikeout performance in a 10-9 win over Calera.

“I think for me, it is trusting in the defense and trusting in myself,” Hagemeister said. “I know that my defense will be able to get people out, and I can get them out.”

Trust has been a big part of Hagemeister’s success in the circle this spring; her confidence in her offspeed pitches has also grown. No longer does she rely on just her fastball and riseball. Her changeup has improved so much that she feels as if she can throw it at any point to keep hitters guessing.

“Speed isn’t everything, you want the batter to be off balance,” Hagemeister said. “I think that has really benefited me.”

And Friday Hagemeister was dominant when she needed to be. Against the Summit (2-9, 0-6 IMC), Ridgeview (15-0, 6-0) held a narrow 1-0 lead until the bottom of the sixth inning. But the Storm had no answer for what Hagemeister was spinning.

“Brezlyn pitched a shutout and you can’t complain about that, she really kept us in it,” said Ridgeview coach Sandy Fischer. “Normally, our hitters do a good job of giving her a cushion. But today she had to throw under pressure and that is good for us.”

And Hagemeister’s improvement and performance has benefited the top-ranked Ravens this season.

The Ravens have won each of their first 15 games of the season. They have already eclipsed last year’s win total. They are in the driver’s seat of the IMC – which they won in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 – with a two-game lead over second-place Bend High and Caldera with 10 games remaining in conference play.

“It is pretty exciting,” said senior Brooklyn Lick, who hit two home runs and drove in all three of Ridgeview’s runs in the win over Summit. “This is definitely the best start I’ve had since I’ve been in high school. This is the first year that we are chasing the IMC title. We want it really bad and it is really exciting to be a part of. We’ve worked really hard to get to where we are, and I’m really proud of us.”

But Fischer, who has coached over 200 wins at Ridgeview and 900 wins at Oklahoma State – knows all too well that when things are going well, a team cannot look too far back at what has already been accomplished, while also not peaking too far in the future.

“We can’t go ‘oh we are undefeated and ranked number one,’” Fischer said. “None of that matters unless you can take care of the moment. And I honestly believe that this team can. We don’t know where the endgame is and we don’t want to project too far into the future. We want to have our feet in the moment. That is the trick. ”

And so far this season, Ridgeview has taken care of each and every one of their moments this season.

The Ravens have beaten a number of teams in the non-league portion of the season – quality wins over Gresham, West Albany and McNary – they’ve won with a wild comeback when they beat Caldera on a walk-off win after trailing by six runs in the sixth inning. And they’ve won when they weren’t their sharpest, like they did in their 3-0 win over Summit on Friday evening.

“One thing that we always tell each other is to focus on one pitch at a time,” Lick said. “The bigger (this winning streak) becomes, we have to focus on that single at-bat that you are taking, that ground ball that you are fielding and that game you are playing in.”

Friday’s win against Summit was the first game of the second of three rounds against IMC teams. Summit will be on the road to take on Mountain View on Tuesday at 4:30, while Ridgeview will try to win the season series on the road against Caldera.

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