REDMOND – Back in January when the Ridgeview softball team began meeting and discussing the upcoming season and its goals, a state championship was hardly part of the conversation.

Ravens’ coach Sandy Fischer believed an Intermountain Conference title would be an attainable goal.

Well, now the Ravens, who did win the IMC, will play for the Class 5A state title on Saturday at 6 p.m. at Jane Sanders Stadium in Eugene.

“This wasn’t on the radar early on,” Fischer said.

Top-seeded Ridgeview took down No. 5 Canby 6-2 in the Class 5A semifinals Tuesday evening, and will make its first trip back to the championship game since winning it all in 2019. The Ravens will play No. 2 Thurston, which beat No. 3 Crater 18-15 in a wild semifinal game.

Entering the final game of the season, the Ravens are 25-1.

“We set goals at the beginning of the season and our goal was to go out and have fun,” said Ridgeview senior catcher Kinnedy Scott. “Then (non-league games) happened and we got into league play and we kept playing hard and winning.”

The Ravens’ speed on the base paths had the Cougar defenders rushing, which led to miscues in the field and runs on the scoreboard. Ridgeview’s defense did not commit an error all game. And in the most pressure-filled inning, sophomore pitcher Brezlyn Hagemeister was pitching at her best.

“I was feeling a lot of emotions coming into this game,” Hagemeister said. “It is really cool to play in the semifinals because it doesn’t happen very often. I tried to play it like any other game and not thinking if we win we are playing for the championship. Our defense and hitting really came through.”

Hagemeister, the IMC’s Pitcher of the Year, struck out 11 batters and allowed just two earned runs.

Canby was able to get on base against the Ravens’ ace, but the Cougars were only able to score two runs after the Ravens had built a 6-0 lead.

“Is she perfect, no,” Fischer said of Hagemeister. “But is she more focused and mature? Yes. She is a true competitor. She hates to lose. And I don’t blame her. When you are a pitcher, you affect the game on every pitch. That competitive spirit and that focus has to come together at the right times in the game to make you not just a good pitcher but a great pitcher.”

Of Hagemeister’s 11 strikeouts, six of them came when Canby had runners on base with less than two outs.

After a slow start at the plate through the first couple of innings, the Ravens finally broke through with four runs in the third inning to break the game open. It was the speed at the bottom of the lineup that sparked the offense.

Junior left fielder Josis Hopper bunted for a single. Then junior center fielder Hailey Nelson, another speedster on the team, laid down a bunt and reached on an error. Hopper stole third then scored on another error from Canby. Nelson then stole home to make it a 2-0 game. Hagemeister singled home another run to extend the lead to 3-0, then freshman Paislee Grant hit into a fielder’s choice to bring home a run to give the Ravens a 4-0 advantage.

“We have three or four kids in a row who are pretty quick,” Fischer said. “And that puts a lot of pressure on a defense. We try to get them on for the power kids in the lineup. It worked today, hopefully we can do it one more time.”

The Ravens then tacked on two more runs in the fourth inning when Scott tripled home a run with two outs, then they scored later in the inning after another Canby error.

Canby pitcher Allison Hayzlett gave up six runs but only one of them was earned.

Now the Ravens are just one win away from winning the program’s second state title.

“I think it is going to be such an amazing experience to play in that stadium,” Hagemeister said. “Not a lot of teams (from Central Oregon) have played there. I just want to have fun and it will be a fun experience for the team as well.”