Jupiter comes up short in bid for state final four

JUPITER — Jupiter fell one step short of earning its second consecutive berth in the state softball semifinals. Davie-Western scored a pair of runs in the top of the 13th, then withstood a late rally on the way to a 3-2 victory in a Class 9A regional championship game late Friday night.

With the win, the Wildcats (20-7) advance to this week’s state tournament in Vero Beach. Western will play Miami-Coral Reef on Friday at Historic Dodgertown.

Jupiter, which rallied to tie it at 1 in the 10th and nearly rallied from a two-run deficit in the 13th, finishes 25-4.

“We played all year with only four experienced varsity players,” Warriors coach Steve Ahern said. “I think our youth caught up with us tonight. We battled, but we had plenty of opportunities.”

Western opened the game with a triple and seemed poised to take an early lead after putting a second runner on with one out. But Jupiter starter Marisa Mellone pitched out of the jam, getting the final two outs.

The Wildcats got a two-out double by Karissa Bauzon in the third, but Mellone got out of the jam with a strikeout.

Wildcats starter Jada Oleski shut down Jupiter through the first four innings, allowing no hits and two walks while striking out two. Chrissy Fontaine broke up the no-hitter in the fifth with a one-out bloop single to left, but the Warriors couldn’t get her home.

Western then had another opportunity to break the scoreless tie. Sydney Tedim led off the sixth with a triple but was stranded at third after Mellone retired the side on a pop-up and two strikeouts. Jupiter had its chances in the sixth and seventh, putting a combined four runners on base. But Oleski worked out of trouble in both innings, sending the game into extra innings.

Western finally broke through in the 10th, scoring on Bianca Cristafaro’s sacrifice fly. But Jupiter tied it on Ashley Goebel’s oneout RBI single.

The Wildcats struck for two runs in the top of the 13th on RBI singles by Oleski and Sydney Pappas. Jupiter got a run back on Fontaine’s RBI single but couldn’t close the gap.

Fontaine finished with four hits for the Warriors, and Shelby Russo added two.