Hagerty sophomore catcher Campbell Downing delivered a two-out, two-run double in the bottom of the sixth inning Wednesday, lifting the Huskies out of a pitchers’ duel. That was all Hagerty needed.
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The Huskies (27-4) rode the crucial hit to its first ever FHSAA state softball championship with a 2-0 victory over Western High of Broward County in the Class 7A final, just one year after finishing as runner-up.
Freshman pitcher Bella Ortiz closed out the seventh inning with a pair of strikeouts, and the on-field celebration ensued.
“It feels great. It doesn’t feel real yet. I just went up there, and I swung, and I hoped for the best,” Downing said. “That pitcher was good. I was nervous. I was confident in my team, and I was confident in the runners on base. I knew I had to swing and trust myself.”
Freshman shortstop Mattingly Klein, making up for an error in the top of the inning, started things off with a one-out single in the sixth. With two outs, junior first baseman Alina Gallaher reached base after being hit by a pitch from Western’s Cheyenne Chaffin.
Hagerty rally not enough in Class 7A state softball championship
“My thought process was, honestly, just like, big gold fish … next play. I wanted my team to back me up,” said Klein, whose father is a New York Yankees fan and named her after former Yankee great Don Mattingly. “I just knew in that moment that my team was gonna come through and get it done. I needed to prove myself in that moment and get a hit in a big situation like that.”
Downing offered up the big blow, slicing a shot down the left-field line that was just out of reach of diving Western left fielder Gia O’Connell. Both runners came around to score, and the partisan Hagerty crowd went wild.
“I really just knew I had to hit the ball the opposite way, and I just did it. It was crazy,” Downing said.
Ortiz was in command for the second straight day, striking out five and allowing just two hits.
“I really was just super confident in Bella,” Downing, the catcher, said of the final inning. “She was pitching great, and she knew what she was doing.”
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The only other real scoring threat came in the Western half of the sixth inning, when Hagerty shortstop Klein, who had just four errors in 64 chances all season, uncharacteristically let a ground ball roll between her legs.
“I read it wrong, but what can you do?” Klein said.
Hanna Turner followed with a two-out single and advanced to second on the throw. But Ortiz got the next hitter to ground out to end the inning.
Western ace Cheyenne Chaffin, who has signed with FIU, was equally impressive in the circle, matching Ortiz inning for inning until Hagerty got to her in the sixth. Chaffin struck out three Hagerty hitters and allowed just three hits.
“I feel centered when I’m on the circle because I know my team has my back,” Ortiz said. “(Chaffin) is a great pitcher. It took us a minute to score some runs. It’s competitive, and that’s what we love.”
The 15-year-old looked unfazed through the playoffs and did not allow a run in the final three games.
“It’s definitely one pitch at a time. I’m in the circle for a reason,” Ortiz said. “One pitch at a time, deep breaths, and just go at them.”
The victory made up for a sad ending to last year’s season when the Huskies lost to Wellington 8-7 in eight innings in the championship game.
“It all goes on those girls, especially the ones that returned, 365 days for them to overcome what they did in the state tournament last year,” Hagerty coach Tom Kreahling said. “For them to set a goal in the beginning of the season … you can’t say enough about the resolve. Softball players are some of the toughest darn athletes out there, man.”
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Chris Hays can be found on X.com @OS_ChrisHays.
FHSAA state championships
(At Boombah Soldiers Creek Park in Longwood)
CLASS 7A
Tuesday Semifinals
Hagerty 7, Jupiter 0
Western 4, East Ridge 0
Wednesday Championship
Hagerty 2, Western 0
CLASS 6A
Friday Semifinals
No. 1 Pace (25-4) vs. No. 4 Parrish Community (18-5-1), 1 p.m.
No. 2 Doral Academy (26-2) vs. No. 3 Bartow (27-3), 2:30 p.m.
Saturday Championship, 4 p.m.
CLASS 5A
Friday Semifinals
No. 1 Niceville (23-7) vs. No. 4 Braden River (23-3), 10 a.m.
No. 2 Winter Springs (22-6) vs. No. 3 Pembroke Pines Charter (21-8), 11:30 a.m.
Saturday Championship, 1 p.m.
CLASS 4A
Thursday Semifinals
No. 1 Columbia (27-3) vs. No. 4 Seminole (19-8), 1 p.m.
No. 2 Lake Wales (24-6) vs. No. 3 Key West (17-9), 2:30 p.m.
Saturday Championship, 10 a.m.
CLASS 3A
Thursday Semifinals
No. 1 Coral Springs Charter (21-4) vs. No. 4 McKeel Academy (17-5), 10 a.m.
No. 2 Wakulla (25-4) vs. No. 3 Eustis (21-6), 11:30 a.m.
Friday Championship, 4 p.m.
CLASS 2A
Wednesday Semifinals
Oxbridge Academy 5, Calvary Christian 1
Cornerstone Charter 3, North Bay Haven Academy 1
Thursday Championship
No. 4 Oxbridge (22-3) vs. No. 3 Cornerstone (23-5), 10 a.m.
CLASS 1A
Tuesday Semifinals
University Christian 12, Schoolhouse Prep 2
Geneva 16, Evangelical Christian 15
Wednesday Championship, 7 p.m.
No. 1 University Christian (20-4) vs. No. 2 Geneva School (16-4), 7 p.m.
RURAL CLASS
Tuesday Semifinals
Trenton 1, Madison County 0
Liberty County 10, Northview 8
Wednesday Championship
No. 1 Trenton (24-3) vs. No. 3 Liberty County (24-5), , 4 p.m.