By Marshall Tempest
Reporter
With a nail-biting 10-9 win over Atlantic Coast last week, the Apopka softball team is now set for the second round of the state championship tournament—where a familiar team awaits. In a district title rematch, the Blue Darters will look for revenge as they face the Lake Brantley Patriots for the third time this season.
In the FHSAA Softball Class 5A-Region 1 Quarterfinal, the Blue Darters used a seven-run inning to mount a comeback and defeat the Atlantic Coast Stingrays by one run. The Patriots coasted to a 7-1 win over Sanford Seminoles in their first-round match.
The two rival programs now have one final chance to prove who is better—this time with the season on the line.
The Blue Darters and Patriots have already faced each other twice this season. Their first meeting was back in late March, when the Patriots won easily 5-1. Their second was in the district championship at the beginning of May. Apopka was leading for the entire game and was leading 8-3 at one point, but a walk-off two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh gave the Patriots the win 9-8.
With one final chance to prove themselves, the Blue Darters will have to defeat the Patriots to advance to the regional final. If not, the season will be over, and a third loss to a team they have shown they are capable of beating, much less a rival like Lake Brantley, would be a tough way to end the season.
The Patriots are coming into the contest with a 24-3 record, ranked ninth in the state. They are on an 11-game win streak and have outscored their opponents 30-13 since the start of the postseason. Apopka comes into the game with a 22-5 record, ranked 77th in the state. They have outscored their opponents 22-21 in the postseason.
In the heartbreaking loss to Lake Brantley on May 1, the Patriots used three late home runs to fuel their comeback, including two in the sixth and one in the seventh. Those three home runs, sandwiched around an RBI single and a sacrifice fly, gave the Patriots the win.
MacWithey said after the game that the Blue Darters defeated themselves. In his eyes, Apopka lost more than the Patriots won.
“We had that game,” MacWithey said. “We’re better than them. We just didn’t put it to bed. We didn’t finish. You’ve got to finish. It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. And we did not finish.”
MacWithey has consistently pointed to two issues that crop up in the team’s losses: defensive errors and pitching mistakes.
“If you look back at our five losses, they were all error-related, and it’s all about defense,” MacWithey said.
MacWithey said that sometimes miscommunication with his pitching staff has caused problems in their losses, too. When the team is ahead, his pitchers need to manage the game to ensure the win. Playing defense with their pitches is just as important as the team behind them playing defense.
When talking about the loss to Lake Brantley, MacWithey brings up the pitching choices in those final two innings as an example. The Blue Darters have given up six home runs this season. Three of them happened in the district title game against Lake Brantley.
“We talked to the pitchers about what it means to protect,” MacWithey said after the loss to Lake Brantley in the district championship. “Because sometimes what I’m trying to communicate to them is not what they hear. I can say things, but is that what you hear? Because I spoke to both pitchers (during the game against Lake Brantley) and told them, ‘Understand, we’re managing the game here. We’re ahead by five, and we only need six outs. What does that mean?’ I said what that means. It means we don’t want to walk people or put anyone on base for free. What I think they sometimes hear is, ‘Well, I’m going to just go throw batting practice down the middle of the plate.'”
Apopka’s final chance to beat Lake Brantley arrives at 7 p.m. Tuesday. If Apopka wins, it will advance to the Region 1 Final of the state tournament. If it makes it to the final, it will be just two wins away from the state championship game.
