Western softball rallies in seventh to beat West Broward, return to state
With two outs and the bases loaded, Wildcats starting senior pitcher Ali Solo forced in the winning run when she was hit by a pitch on her right foot to score Katarina Kuma from third.
The victory lifted the advanced Wildcats (20-5-1) to the state semifinals at Boombah-Soldiers Creek Park in Longwood where they will look to repeat as state champs. Western will face Oviedo Hagerty on May 23 at either 2 or 4 in a 7A state semifinal.
'We fight to the end,' Western coach John Bradshaw said. 'These girls have been in big games, and they never give up. We preach that day in and day out. A lot of hard work goes into this. Every time we step on the field, we have a chance to win. The opposing pitcher lost control towards the end, and I instructed Ali (Solo) to take advantage of this opportunity. It turned out and we're going to states.'
Solo, who wasn't having her best outing, relished in the moment.
'This was probably one of the biggest moments for me,' Solo said. 'I wasn't expecting her to hit me at all. She had been pitching great all night. Honestly, I was going to do anything for my team at that point. I had been struggling at the plate. Taking that pitch obviously got us somewhere.'
Up 2-1 entering the top of the sixth inning, the Bobcats added two more runs on an error, allowing Mady Remotigue and Cyara Geronimo to score increasing their lead to three runs.
West Broward (18-8) took a 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning on a two-run double down the left-field line, with Victoria Carmona and Isabella Cruz scoring.
Western had managed a pair of meaningless hits through the first three-innings, before a bunt single by Gia Solano pushed Delaney Clair, who was running for Kennedy Butter, home from third.
'She gave it everything she got,' said West Broward coach Kyle Davis of his starting pitcher in sophomore Cheyanne Chaffin. 'Sometimes it just doesn't go your way. Having a 4-1 lead slip away in the last inning with an out is hard to swallow. We just fell short, and it hurts. It's beyond words.'
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