By Marshall Tempest
Reporter
The Apopka softball team started its district title journey this week with a 4-3 win over the Sanford Seminoles in the second round of the 7A District 3 Tournament. With the win, the Blue Darters advanced to the district championship, where they faced off against No. 9 Lake Brantley after press time Thursday.
Apopka vs. Sanford
Oddly enough, Apopka’s final regular season game was against the Sanford Seminoles just days before they met in the district tournament. In its first matchup last week, Apopka won in decisive fashion with a 12-7 victory. This week, the Seminoles weren’t going to let the Blue Darters get off so easy.
The game was scoreless for the first four innings as the Blue Darters and the Seminoles contained each other. But in the fifth inning, the Seminoles put up two runs to open the scoring and take the lead 2-0.
In those first four innings, Apopka’s pitcher was Mia Aeschilman. She was relieved in the fifth by Ava Millspaugh after Sanford had scored two runs facing no outs.
Millspaugh easily finished the fifth inning, giving up no more runs, and sent the Blue Darters to the plate for the bottom of the inning. Apopka answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the fifth, thanks to a Skyla Durand solo home run.
Apopka couldn’t make anything else happen at the plate in the fifth, but after shutting down the Seminoles, the Blue Darters grabbed the lead in the sixth. A flyball single from Riley Ford and a hard ground ball single from Braylyn Pirillo sent in the two runs, giving the Blue Darters a 3-2 lead heading into the final inning.
Sanford tied the game up in the top of the seventh with a fielder’s choice. Now Apopka needed one more run to take the game without heading into extra innings. They got it.
Alicia Lopez’s sacrifice bunt sent in the game-winning run, as fundamentals and willpower again won out for the Apopka softball team.
Apopka was solid in the field, with a .941 fielding percentage. The Blue Darters collected 21 putouts, 11 assists, two errors and a double play.
Aeschilman finished with two strikeouts and two earned runs on five hits across her four-plus innings of work. Millspaugh closed out the game for Apopka and gave up just one hit, one earned run, two walks and struck out one with 41 pitches.
The District Championship
With the win over Sanford, Apopka has bought itself a ticket to the district title game. Their opponent was Lake Brantley.
On Tuesday, Ocoee and Lake Mary faced off in the first round. The Lake Mary Rams defeated the Ocoee Knights 13-4. On Wednesday, Lake Mary was set to face Lake Brantley. The Patriots defeated the Rams with ease 14-4.
With Lake Brantley’s win over Lake Mary, Apopka faced the Patriots in the district title game. The Patriots came into the matchup with a 22-3 record, ranked ninth in the state, and were on a nine-game win streak.
Apopka was on a roll, too, as they looked to extend their 11-game win streak with a district title victory over the Patriots. The Patriots averaged 9.16 runs per game and had an ERA of 2.92. The Blue Darters averaged 11.32 runs per game and had an ERA of 2.42. On paper, Apopka had the edge slightly, but Lake Brantley admittedly had a tougher schedule than the Blue Darters this season.
This will be an excellent opportunity for the Blue Darters to avenge a 5-1 loss to the Patriots in late March. It will also be a great opponent for the Blue Darters to prepare themselves for the tough road to the state championship, where they could see the Patriots again.
If Apopka beats the Patriots, it will secure a spot in the state championship tournament. If not, it will come down to ranking in their region to see if Apopka can make the playoffs.
