Coral Springs keeps on rolling
Panthers score 17 runs in 1st inning en route to 25th straight victory
CORAL SPRINGS — Host Coral Springs Charter plated 17 runs in the first inning and ended the Pompano Beach girls softball team’s season with a 19-0, run-rule shortened Class 5A regional semifinal game at Betti Stradling Park on Tuesday afternoon.
Seniors Sara Berthiaume was 2 for 2 with three runs scored, Shannon Doherty was 1 for 3 with a run scored and three RBI, while freshman pitcher Brianna Godfrey was 3 for 3 with five RBI and two runs scored. Godfrey improved to 10-0 and hit her first career home run in the win. She also tossed two innings and struck out two, while Alina Varga finished the no-hitter with a hitless third inning.
Coral Springs Charter (26-1), ranked No. 4 in the state by MaxPreps and No. 8 in the nation by Xcellent 25, won for the 25th straight time. The lone blemish was a 5-4 loss to Western in the second game of the season. Coral Springs Charter will travel to face Key West, a 10-9 winner over Gulliver Prep, on Thursday at 4 p.m.
The Panthers had defeated Pompano Beach twice during the season by identical 15-0 scores. Coral Springs Charter sent 22 batters to the plate in the first inning as they set a school record for most runs in an inning. Six of their first 11 hits barely left the infield.
“It is tough to beat a team so many times handily like we did,” said Panthers coach Mark Montimurro, who is hoping for a fifth straight state championship. “We have been working on our swings a lot and our offensive approach and I think it is paying off. We have been hitting better the second half of the season.”
“We have gotten better since the Western game,” he added. “We have won 25 in a row. It is a combination of things and our pitching has evolved and the hitting has been timely and productive lately and when you put that all together you have a pretty good formula.”
Pompano Beach (13-7) returned to the postseason after a year’s absence. Tornadoes coach John McGuire said Coral Springs Charter was a strong offensive team.
“They are a great hitting team,” McGuire said. “They are nationally ranked, so the bloop hits were even harder to defend and it was deflating. You just try to work through it.”