South Bend softball stars make college choices: Zache sisters to Oklahoma, Zachary to ND

SOUTH BEND — Some of the elite softball talent in Saint Joseph County have made their college intentions known.

South Bend Saint Joseph sisters Riley and Berkley Zache, a senior and junior respectively, both committed to perennial NCAA powerhouse Oklahoma on Tuesday. Riley had previously been committed to the University of Missouri, but flipped to the Sooners to join her sister.

One of the players that helped eliminate Saint Joseph from the postseason last year, Penn junior Ava Zachary, committed to Notre Dame last week. All three will still be playing high school softball in the area this spring, making the Northern Indiana Conference one of the toughest in the state.

Zache sisters going to a national powerhouse

It’s hard to find a more dominant program in the country right now than Oklahoma softball, regardless of sport.

The Sooners have won three-straight Women’s College World Series championships and seven overall since 2000 under head coach Patty Gasso. Oklahoma is currently on a 53-game winning streak, the longest in the history of the sport.

For Berkley, she knew Oklahoma was home as soon as she stepped on campus.

“You watch Oklahoma on TV, and it portrays them as this kind of arrogant persona, but the first day I was on campus, I noticed it was the complete opposite,” Berkley said in a phone interview with the South Bend Tribune Tuesday night. “The girls treated each other like sisters and they were just family. It was amazing to see, and it was a culture I wanted to put myself in. I knew I would thrive there.”

The younger Zache sister has been virtually unhittable in her two years with Saint Joseph. She has a record of 33-2 with a 0.27 ERA and 513 strikeouts combined the last two seasons. She’s only allowed nine earned runs (22 total) in 233 1/3rd innings pitched. Berkley has been a force on offense as well, batting .423 with 13 home runs and 70 RBIs.

Berkley did not allow a run the entire 2022 postseason, pitching Saint Joseph to the Class 3A state title. She threw a 13-inning no-hitter to beat Leo in the semi-state championship game, then tossed a nine-inning, three-hit shutout to beat Tri-West Hendricks in the state finals. Both games ended in 1-0 scores.

Her dominance both as a pitcher and hitter earned her the No. 2 ranking amongst all players in the Class of 2025 from the website Softball America.

Riley has had a fantastic career as well. As a junior, she set the single-season program record with 11 home runs. She batted .538 last season with 49 runs scored, 48 RBIs and 17 doubles.

For her career, the older Zache sister has a .498 batting average and a .539 on-base percentage. Of her 143 career hits, 23 have been home runs. She also had 95 RBIs and 117 runs scored. She scored the winning run in the 13-inning win over Leo in 2022.

The senior explained her decision to de-commit from Missouri in favor of the Sooners.

“Oklahoma didn’t come into the picture for me until we got onto campus,” Riley said. “I didn’t think that was an option for me. We’d been talking about it for a little bit with Missouri, and it didn’t feel like home anymore. … After (Oklahoma) got done talking to Berkley and offering her, coach (Gasso) turned and looked at me and said, ‘So, would you like to join your sister?’ I was so shocked, but even before we had that conversation, I fell in love with everything about the campus.”

Both sisters emphasized how important it was that they get to play together at the collegiate level.

“My goal from the beginning was to play with (Riley) and grow as a person with her,” Berkley said. “It was kind of a make-or-break situation, honestly. If this school’s not going to take her, another will and I’m willing to be with her because this is what I want.”

“It has been our dream since we were little to play together in college,” Riley added. “This year, we were trying to figure out if that was still best for us, and we were talking one day about how if we don’t go to the same college, this will be the last season we have the same names across our chest. We both sat down and started crying because that idea of not playing together, we couldn’t fathom it.”

Ava Zachary choosing to stay close to home at Notre Dame

Another talented player from the NIC made her college choice last week, with Penn junior Ava Zachary committing to Notre Dame.

Zachary has hit over .400 both seasons of her high school career, posting a .418 average as a freshman and .495 as a sophomore. She has 94 hits, 72 RBIs and 78 runs scored. She’s a threat on the basepaths as well, as she’s totaled 33 stolen bases in her career. All of this helped her earn the 23rd ranking amongst Class of 2025 players by the website Extra Inning Softball.

After visiting Indiana and Arkansas earlier in the month, Zachary took her visit to Notre Dame. It was an easy choice for her once she left campus that day.

“You grow up watching them, being a local team and close to home,” said Zachary of Notre Dame. “I feel like that’s something that’s always been a dream of mine, playing for my home town, my home state and representing Notre Dame. They really made my decision easy. It’s one big family there. The culture and the academics really drew me in and made me want to go there.”

The last Penn standout to commit to Notre Dame was 2011 graduate Jenna Simon.

More: How one night in June was 'like a fairytale' for Penn High School athletics

Zachary returns to a Penn team that won the Class 4A state championship in the spring, including a 3-0 win against Saint Joseph in the regional championship game. Along with handing Berkley Zache her only loss of the season, they defeated three-time Gatorade Indiana Player of the Year, Keagan Rothrock, in the state title game, a 2-1 win over Roncalli in nine innings.

WATCH: Penn High School's Ava Zachary breaks down key triple off Keagan Rothrock in state final

“I feel like our success from this past season gives us something to live up to this coming year,” Zachary said. “It’s no added pressure. Pressure is a privilege, so I feel like we’re trying to work extra hard and get back to where we were last year.”

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Zache sisters commit to Oklahoma softball, Zachary chooses Notre Dame