LONGWOOD — Capped by Winter Springs High School winning the Class 5A State Championship, a trio of Seminole County teams made an amazingly impressive run before the home fans at the 2025 FHSAA State Softball Championships at Boombah-Soldiers Creek Park.
The No. 2 seeded Bears (24-8), with only one senior on the roster, dominated the first half of the Championship Game at the complex located around 3-miles from the Winter Springs campus, building a 4-0 lead heading into the bottom of the fourth inning of the seven inning contest.
Top-seeded Niceville (22-7) battled back with three runs, but the locals were able to hold on for the 4-3 victory behind an amazing diving catch by sophomore right fielder Summer Mason and clutch pitching from sophomore Tiffany Seemann.
Winter Springs had advanced to the final with a 5-4 victory over No. 3 seeded North Fort Myers (20-8) on a walkoff, one-out, double in the bottom of the seventh inning by junior Adison Pierce.
Farrah Gordon was the Head Coach for the Bears and the roster was made up of Seniors: Alondra Maldonado; Juniors: Lilly Clark, Reese Fernandez, Adison Pierce, Bella Reed, Miranda Rinne and Katelyn Wassey; Sophomores: Christina Brisson, Lauren Daugherty, Kamylah Fermin, Abigail Hooper, Bubbie Mandigo, Summer Mason, Tiffany Seemann and Adisyn Traughber; and Freshmen: Madison Barahona and Kennedy Jackson.
The Geneva School (22-4), whose campus is also within five miles of the state site on the old horse racing park on Seminole Boulevard in Casselberry, took an early 4-0 lead and then looked to have grabbed the momentum with a 6-run fourth inning highlighted by a grand slam from 8th-grader Ella Ingram in the Class 1A State Championship Game, but the third-seeded Knights saw the offense go cold as top-seeded Ft. Myers-Evangelical Christian (28-3) rallied with a pair of 4-run innings to pull out a 17-14 victory.
The Knights are basically a Middle School team with only five players in the top four grades, two seniors, one sophomore and two freshman, and the starting lineup included a 7th-grade pitcher and six 8th-graders.
TGS got off to a fantastic start in its semifinal with No. 2 seeded Miami Christian (16-9), exploding for eight runs in the first inning, highlighted an RBI triple and a later 2-run single from Chloe Incinelli, and it was important as the Victors plated four runs in the seventh inning against a tiring Dallas Esperas, who mustered enough strength from her 5-foot-2, 105-pound frame to retire the side with the Knights winning 10-7.
Jared Incinelli was the Head Coach with Mark Snodgrass serving as his Assistant Coach.
Making up the roster was Seniors: Emma Bastian and Lura Shepherd; Sophomores: Chloe Incinelli; Freshmen: Rachel Mosquera and Molly Storms; 8th-Graders: Eden Bastian, Peyton Clark, Adalyn Emerick, Ella Ingram, Bella Ortiz, Lilly Prieto and Briana Rodammer; 7th-Graders: Dallas Esperas; and 6th-Graders: Blakely Futch.
No. 2 seeded Hagerty High School (24-7), whose campus is just a little further away in Southeast Oviedo, overcame a 5-hour weather delay, a power failure during the game and a slow start offensively in the Class 7A State Championship Game, rallying for four late runs over the sixth and seventh innings to tie the contest with top-seeded Wellington (23-4) at 7-7 and force extra innings.
But the Huskies would leave the bases loaded in the top of the eighth inning and the Wolverines would scratch across the walkoff title-winning run in the bottom of the eighth-inning to claim the trophy, 8-7, in a contest that did not end until early (close to 1 a.m.) Sunday morning.
Hagerty had reached the final by hanging on for a 4-3 victory over No. 3 seeded Davie-Western (20-6-1) behind Alexis Felker, who had gone 2-for-3 with a 2-run double and the pitching of senior Ella Verne (7-0).
Felker doubled in two runs in the first inning and the Huskies added two more runs in the third.
Verne, meanwhile, was outstanding in the circle, only facing one batter over the minimum through four innings.
But the Wildcats plated a run in the fifth and two more in the sixth with the help of an error to close to within 4-3 with one out and the tying run aboard. But the senior ended the inning with a ground out and a strike out and then opened the seventh with a strike out and allowed a single before ending the game with a flourish with back-to-back strike outs, giving her eight on the day.
Tom Kreahling is the Head Coach for Hagerty with Wendi Acey-Seeman and Michael Verne serving as assistant coaches.
The roster was made up of Seniors: Alexandra Beldowicz, Lauren Carroll, Alexis Felker, Hannah Hargrave, Alanah Mistler, Ana Roman, Alexis Williamson and Ella Verne; Juniors: Abi Fitch, Alyssa Gutierrez and Nicole Thompson; Sophomores: Addison Bell and Alina Gallaher; and Freshmen: Addison Dilger, Campbell Downing, Sami Gartner, Ava Haas, Ariana Hardman and Channing Uddin.
Here are the results:
FINAL 4
Boombah-Soldiers Creek Park, Longwood
Class 1A
Semifinals
Tuesday, May 20
Game 1 _ (1) Ft. Myers-Evangelical Christian (27-3) 13, (4) Tallahassee-North Florida Christian (16-9) 0, 4-innings.
Game 2 _ (3) The Geneva School (22-3) 10, (2) Miami Christian (16-9) 7.
Final
Wednesday, May 21
Championship _ (1) Ft. Myers-Evangelical Christian (28-3) 17, (3) The Geneva School (22-4) 14.
Class 5A
Semifinals
Thursday, May 22
Game 1 _ (1) Niceville (22-6) 7, (4) Ft. Lauderdale-St. Thomas Aquinas (16-13) 2.
Game 2 _ (2) Winter Springs (23-8) 5, (3) North Fort Myers (20-8) 4.
Final
Saturday, May 24
Championship _ (2) Winter Springs (24-8) 4, (1) Niceville (22-7) 3.
Class 7A
Semifinals
Friday, May 23
Game 1 _ (1) Wellington (22-4) 15, (4) Sarasota (21-8) 0, 4-innings.
Game 2 _ (2) Hagerty (24-6) 4, (3) Davie-Western (20-6-1) 3.
Final
Saturday, May 24
Championship _ (1) Wellington (23-4) 6, (2) Hagerty (24-7) 5, 8-innings.
