Coral Springs Charter takes 4th state Doubleheader sweep carries them to a record title
The streak continues. Senior pitcher Emily Estroff allowed just one earned run in two complete games and the Coral Springs Charter offense took care of business as the Panthers won their fourth straight Class 5A championship Wednesday with a 4-1 victory over West Nassau at Historic Dodgertown in Vero Beach.
They are the first softball program in the history of Broward County to win four straight state titles.
Because of heavy rain, the Panthers had to play their semifinal against Hardee earlier in the day and won that game 7-1.
“It’s pretty remarkable,” Panthers coach Mark Montimurro said “This four-year run for us has been a little more than we bargained for. We’re 114-6 in our last 120 games ... that just doesn’t happen.
“It’s a testament to the girls. The most resilient bunch ever. Every year, we’ve had to find a way to do it differently. To win four in a row, I really didn’t know if it was possible. But if any group could do it, it was this one.”
Wednesday’s win was even more special for Coral Springs Charter seniors Gianna Boccagno and Alyssa Laboy, who finished their high school careers with four straight titles.
“It’s amazing,” Boccagno said. “We started it my freshman year. We had a great pitcher. We had Ally Muraskin and she did it three straight times. This year, we were so blessed to have Emily Estroff come. She left a high school [Monarch] that she’d been at for three years and we got it done. She did the job.”
Estroff, who also had two hits and an RBI in the championship game, was dominant on the mound. She struck out six batters and gave up three hits.
Tatianna Luerson also had an RBI for the Panthers (30-2).
After winning their third state title, Boccagno jumped into Muraskin’s arms. This time, it was the other way around as Estroff jumped into her catcher’s arms.
“Hey, she’s the pitcher, she gets what she wants,” Boccagno laughed. “I was just glad we got it done. I was happy. It was awesome.”
The Panthers had to play their 5A semifinal early Wednesday morning and got a long home run from Boccagno and solid pitching from Estroff to roll past Hardee 7-1 and secure their spot in the final.
Hardee had chances to score, leaving eight on base, but Estroff got the key outs when she needed them against the Wildcats. registering out.
The next batter then grounded to Grobman. The pitcher wheeled and threw to Sipos for the force and the third baseman delivered her throw to first in plenty of time for the inning-ending double play.
Heritage advances to play at 10:05 a.m., today against Land O’ Lakes and their star pitcher Callie Turner in a rematch of last year’s final, won by the Gators 3-1. the massive
ORLANDO HAGERTY 1, COOPER CITY 0: They don’t get much harder to take than that.
The Cowboys lost their Class 8A state semifinal against Orlando Hagerty on an errant throw to third base that bounced into the dugout.
While it will be hard to say goodbye to seniors Rebekah Ehrenthal, Abigail Cowart, Kassandra Espinosa, Bridgette Tuxbury and Katherine Claros, there is one thing Cowboys coach Phil Schmalz said he knows about his team:
Wednesday’s loss is only going to make his players more determined to get back here again.
“That was one of things we said in our postgame is that this could be something that’s going to sit with you for a while,” Schmalz said. “That desire, that yen to come back … hey, we only lost 1-0. This game could have went either way and we could be in the championship game.”