Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
This year, Cooper City advances to states
FORT LAUDERDALE — This time, it would be Cooper City winning the extra-inning regional final to advance to states.
Kassandra Espinosa tripled deep down the rightfield line and Bridgette Tuxbury drove her home with a single to shallow left. The Cowboys, after dropping a 10-inning regional final to St. Thomas Aquinas last year, topped the Raiders 2-1 in nine in the Region 4-8A final on Friday night at Aquinas.
“We’re ecstatic,” Cooper City coach Phil Schmalz said. “Last season, we came so close. We tasted it. We just couldn’t quite get over the hump, and we talked about it all year — making that little extra difference. Our kids did [Friday].”
Cooper City snapped St. Thomas Aquinas’ streak of five consecutive seasons with a state berth and advanced to the final four for the first time since 2012.
The Cowboys (23-5), which had been eliminated by St. Thomas the previous two postseasons, will face Hagerty in a state semifinal next Friday at 7 p.m. at Historic Dodgertown in Vero Beach.
“It was a great feeling,” said Espinosa of the triple and then coming across to score. “I just swung and tried to do my best to follow through as much as I could.”
Jasmin Herrera pitched the final three innings for Cooper City to secure the win.
She got out of a basesloaded, one-out jam in the bottom of the seventh to get the game to extras, inducing a pair of grounders to short to escape the threat. She then came out unscathed in the eighth after having a runner on third with one out.
Aquinas starter Gabriella Nori struck out seven, allowing two runs and seven hits in her complete-game effort for the Raiders (20-6).
Cooper City first broke a scoreless tie in the fifth inning when shortstop and leadoff hitter Brenna Lokeinsky hit a solo home run to center field.
St. Thomas got that run back to tie it at 1 in the bottom of the inning without a hit in the frame. A hit-bypitch, walk, flyout, two runners tagging and an error on a rundown allowed Jocelyn Lozano to come around to score.
Shelby Jones threw the first six innings for the Cowboys. She allowed just the one unearned run on three hits but walked five and hit two batters.
Cooper City had chances early with two on and nobody out in the second and third innings, but the ensuing three batters each time were retired – in the third, it was the heart of the order.
Last year, Aquinas won a 4-3 regional final thriller in 10 innings over Cooper City to advance to state. In their one previous meeting this season, St. Thomas won a 2-1 semifinal in the BCAA Big 8.