Ducks win a wet one
Cornerstone Charter Academy scored five runs in the top of the seventh inning to break open a tie game and win 10-5 over Rocky Bayou Christian of Niceville on Monday in a rain-soaked Class 3A state softball semifinal game at Historic Dodgertown in Vero Beach.
CCA will play Admiral Farragut (18-5) of St. Petersburg in today’s championship game at 4:35 p.m.
The Ducks (20-10), the first team in school history to reach a state tournament, were down 5-4 after three innings but knotted the score 5-5 on a RBI single up the middle by Madison Titshaw.
Rocky Bayou (20-2) went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the seventh.
Cornerstone loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh and Ali DiBlasio drew a walk to give the Ducks a 6-5 lead. Alyssa Roupp singled to knock in two more CCA runs.
Roupp had four RBIs on the day and went the distance as the winning pitcher, allowing six hits and three walks.
Cornerstone leadoff hitter and shortstop Maya Amm went 2-for-3 and scored three runs. DiBlasio was 2-for-3 with two runs and three RBIs.
It will be tough for Timber Creek to continue flying under the radar at this point in the softball season.
Despite a coaching change less than a week before tryouts and the loss of a pair of NCAA Division I commits entering the season, the Wolves are playing in the state tournament this week for the second time in program history.
The underdog Wolves (24-5) take the field tonight against back-to-back defending 9A state champion West Orange (23-7) in an all-Orange County semifinal in Vero Beach.
Hagerty (25-5) plays an 8A semifinal against Cooper City (23-5) at 5:20 on an adjacent field.
“When I took the job there was a lot of talk that we weren’t going to be as great a team as they’ve had in the past,” said Timber Creek coach Morgan Williams, a 2007 Winter Park graduate. “We were a little behind with things, but I just told them not to listen to what other people are saying and that we can only do what we can control.”
Timber Creek has found its way around the bases despite graduating standout hitters from last year’s region final team. The Wolves also lost pitcher Britton Rogers, a Georgia commit, when she moved to Texas and Florida signee Odalys Cordova to surgery this fall.
“A lot of people haven’t really paid us any attention because they saw we lost so many key players,” Williams said. “Some of our best players were on the [junior varsity] team last year and everyone has been stepping u.”
It’s been the play of Timber Creek’s defense and the efforts of sophomore pitcher Lindsay Hendrix that have helped the Wolves heat up and get the upper hand in three of their past four playoff victories by a single run.
While Timber Creek has surpassed low expectations to reach the state tournament, West Orange has pulled from years of success and experience to overcome ups and downs.
The Warriors, who battled back from injuries and witnessed the recovery of head coach Todd LeNeave from a heart attack, reached the region finals for the fourth consecutive year.
West Orange fell one game short of the final four in a loss to Hagerty in 2015 before winning consecutive championships.
“Because we have a winning expectation in our program, these girls definitely feed into it from day one,” West Orange interim coach Kelsey LaNeave said.
“They come in wanting to win, literally from the first step onto the field, and that makes it so much easier when it comes to us coaching them and leading them. They just want it so bad.”