Following a 16-4 season, the softball team added one more win to their record on Tuesday, April 9, beating Lake Brantley 2-1 in a seeding game for the district championships.
Catcher Alexis Felker had eight putouts and two RBIs including a home run that she made, Roman had one home run, and Stella Christie and Addison Bell had four putouts each. Pitcher Rachel Matthiesen also allowed only one home run over the course of seven innings—all of which she pitched.
“We had played Lake Brantley earlier in the season, and we beat them, so we knew that they were coming in for revenge,” center fielder Ana Roman said. “But we knew their team and we knew what they were going to come at us with. So all of us were prepared.”
In their previous game against Lake Brantley on March 8 (their seventh game of the season), the team also won narrowly, with a final score of 5-4. On Tuesday, the two teams came prepared for a tense rematch, with no scoring from either side for the first five innings of the game.
In the sixth inning, with Hagerty on defense, Lake Brantley made a home run—their only home run of the game. By the second half of the inning, Felker was up to bat. Roman had walked to first base, and then stolen second and third. Felker hit a home run, allowing both her and Roman to score, and putting them in the lead.
“When I was walking up, Ana was on third, and they had called a time-out,” Felker said. “And I told Ana, ‘I’m gonna get it over right here, watch.’ And then I did, so I was super excited.”
The girls took advantage of their trust and knowledge of each other that they had built up over the season, and celebrated each others’ scores.
“Alexis was up to bat and I knew that she was going to score me in, no matter what,” Roman said. “So I had complete confidence in her from the beginning.”
After that, the team only had to hold off Lake Brantley for one more inning on defense. A player made it to first base, then second as another got to first. They only had one out. Bell caught two balls in a row, and the game was called as a win for Hagerty.
“I’m super proud of the girls, and I’m super proud of myself,” Felker said. “We’ve been putting in a lot more work than normal recently, so we’re really preparing for postseason, when we play the harder teams.”
The team has three more games to go before district championships, playing against Oviedo on April 17, Windermere on April 23 and St. Cloud on April 25.
Last year, they qualified for states—despite losing to Oviedo in the district semi finals—then made a long trip to Pace High School, only to eventually lose to them. This year, with some returning members, and some new players, the team hopes to redeem themselves.
“We’re a pretty solid team,” Roman said. “I think that we have a chance at states if we just continue to play our game and not let the moment get too big or too small.”
Currently ranked 18 in the state and seventh in Class 6A (last year, they ended the season ranked 19 in Florida and fourth in 6A), the team is hoping that they have a smooth run through the championships, and that how they played against Lake Brantley will give them an edge.
“We wanted to place high for our district seeding,” Felker said. “So when we go into postseason, we’ll have to play easier teams, versus having to play the harder teams in the bracket.”
With the win added to their current record, things are looking good in that direction.
