By Marshall Tempest
Reporter
The Apopka softball team had a tough outing in the first two games since returning from spring break, falling to the Lake Brantley Patriots 5-1 and the Deltona Wolves 5-4.
Coming into the game against Lake Barntley, Apopka was 8-1 and ranked 82nd in the state, but Lake Brantley was 11-0 and ranked 22nd in the state and 16th in the nation, according to MaxPreps.
The Patriots got right to it and retired three straight Apopka hitters to start the game. Lake Brantley then scored two runs in the bottom of the first on three singles and an error—quickly amassing all the offense it would need against the unusually quiet bats for Apopka.
The Blue Darters cut the lead in half in the third when Shylah Pino hit a grounder to third that was mishandled, allowing a run to score. She was thrown out trying to reach third on the play. It was only the second out of the inning, but it proved costly as the next hitter, Taylor Smith crushed a pitch off the wall for a double. A groundout ended the inning, leaving Smith stranded and the Blue Darters trailing 2-1.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Patriots exploded for three more runs to break the game open. Lake Brantley used three singles and a pair of Apopka fielding errors to extend its lead.
The Blue Darters didn’t bring in or allow any more runs in the game and fell 5-1 to one of the country’s best teams. This was Apopka’s first honest look at what a state championship contender team looks like this season.
Even on an off night for the usually flawless fielding, the Darters kept the Patriots to just five runs when they have been averaging 12.5 a game this season.
Apopka’s most significant struggles were with fielding and productivity at the plate. The softball team committed only 13 errors in its first nine games but four against Lake Brantley.
The Darters are batting .440 on the season and averaging 12 runs a game. In their loss to the Patriots, the Darters batted only .231 as a team.
Apopka faced one of the best pitchers in Class 7A. Lake Brantley’s Bella Rosales is ranked 6th in Class 7A with a 0.83 ERA this season in nine appearances and 42.1 innings pitched.
Alicia Lopez stood out at the plate in the loss for Apopka. The junior went 3-for-3 at the plate, accounting for half of the Blue Darters’ six hits, and scored Apopka’s only run.
On the mound for Apopka in the loss was their ace pitcher, Ava Millspaugh, who looked great on the mound even though she was going against some of the best hitters in the state. All five of the runs scored against her were unearned, as she emerged the tough-luck loser in the game. In five innings of work, she scattered nine hits, struck out three and walked one while throwing 85 pitches.
Sydney Bartkin came in to relieve Millspaugh in the sixth, tossing a shutout inning on only 11 pitches.
After the loss to Lake Brantley, the Darters had two more games this week. The first was against Deltona on Wednesday, March 26, and the second is Apopka’s first home game of the season, which is scheduled against Windermere on Friday, March 28.
The Blue Darters fell 5-4 to the Deltona Wolves, tying the game up in the top of the seventh, only for Deltona to crush the Blue Darters’ hopes of a comeback with a run of their own in the bottom of the seventh.
Apopka brought in zero runs in the first four innings and were down 4-0 going into the fifth. The Blue Darters then willed in three runs in the top of the fifth. Apopka was crushing it at the plate in the fifth collecting three hits. The game’s first runs for Apopka came from Shylah Pino on a ground ball single to center field that sent in two runs.
The Blue Darters were trailing 4-2 now with one out. After a few fielding errors from the Wolves, Apopka loaded the bases, and a force run was sent in due to Deltona walking Apopka’s Ava Gonzalez.
Apopka was able to catch up to Deltona at the top of the seventh after an error by the Wolves’ first baseman allowed Alezia Hatcher to send in a run on another hard-ground ball to tie up the game. But in the bottom of the seventh, a fly ball single sent in Deltona’s game-winning run.
With the two losses, Apopka falls to 8-3, 3-1 in district play, and is ranked 82nd in the state according to MaxPreps on Thursday, March 26.
The Blue Darters have been in good form, winning five out of their last seven games. They defeated Ocoee (16-0), Boone (15-3), Lake Mary (7-1), Edgewater (15-0) and Olympia (16-3) since their first loss of the season against Eustis on March 5. Apopka has scored 124 runs and allowed just 34 for a positive scoring differential of 90 runs, a testament to their strong performance this season.
