{"id":1532,"date":"2026-05-23T21:06:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T21:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=1532"},"modified":"2026-05-23T21:06:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T21:06:30","slug":"winter-springs-survives-emotional-season-repeats-as-5a-state-champs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=1532","title":{"rendered":"Winter Springs survives emotional season, repeats as 5A state champs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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LONGWOOD \u2014 Winter Springs coach Farah Gordon summed up the season perfectly after the Bears successfully defended their 2025 Class 5A championship Saturday at Boombah Soldiers Creek Park.<\/p>\n

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The Bears went through the postseason holding every opponent scoreless, an impressive 71-0 run through the playoffs in seven games. They defeated Niceville 6-0 in the title game.<\/p>\n

The Winter Spring girls battled through the up-and-down emotions of having to deal with the death of teammate Kennedy Jackson, the starting first baseman as a freshman last year. Kennedy died in October and the team was playing for her all season, ending it with a second consecutive state title while fashioning a 24-6 record.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s special. It\u2019s hard to win it once, but winning it twice, it\u2019s like having a target on your back,\u201d Gordon said. \u201cIt was just magical and special. We had the loss in October of one of our studs and we were able to come together as a team and realize we are more than softball players. We\u2019re human and just being there for each other, I think that\u2019s what makes it so special.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also had her as our guardian angel. The last game she played was in that dugout on this field.\u201d<\/p>\n

Winter Springs had taken an early 1-0 lead in the fourth inning on a double by junior pitcher Tiffany Seeman, and she was knocked in on a double by Pierce.<\/p>\n

Junior right fielder Abigail Hooper helped give Winter Springs some breathing room in the fifth with a two-run home run in the fifth. That woke up the bats.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels great, we\u2019re back again and we\u2019ll be here next year,\u201d said Hooper, who also said she knew the ball was gone the moment she hit it.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI hit it right on the meat of the bat and it felt so great. I was so happy,\u201d Hooper said.<\/p>\n

In the sixth inning, the Bears plated three more runs. Senior third baseman Adison Pierce led off with a double off the top of the fence in left field. She came around to score on a sacrifice fly by sophomore first baseman Madison Barahona and a sacrifice bunt by senior pinch-hitter Bella Reed. Senior second baseman Lilly Clark kept things going with a single and Hooper walked. Both came around to score on junior catcher Laura Daugherty\u2019s double off the fence in left-center.<\/p>\n

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Pitchers Tiffany Seeman and Christina Brisson tagged-teamed in the circle, allowing seven hits and striking out 4.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think it\u2019s these girls\u2019 grit and their seniority. I have an older team and just them being in this situation before \u2026 they\u2019re just ready for that moment,\u201d Gordon said. \u201cA lot of defense and our pitchers have been lights out \u2026 that\u2019s a big key to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

The emotion of dealing with the tragic death of Kennedy was difficult, but the girls found togetherness and a path to focus upon with their eyes on a repeat title, along with the death of their friend.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing, especially because we were missing Kennedy out there,\u201d Hooper said. \u201cWe love her and I couldn\u2019t stop thinking about her the entire season. I miss her so much.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very hard for us, but we\u2019re all very strong \u2026 I feel like we all got closer after that, but it was really tough for us \u2026 .but we\u2019re here and we won, times two.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bears are the first Orlando area fastpitch softball team to repeat since West Orange turned the trick in 2016 and 2017.<\/p>\n

Their win, coupled with Hagerty\u2019s 7A state championship, marks the first time two Seminole County teams have won FHSAA championships in the same year. It\u2019s the fifth Seminole County state softball title and fourth in the past nine years \u2014 including Hagerty\u2019s first championship in 2018 and Winter Springs\u2019 first title in 2019. Lake Mary was a champion in 1998.<\/p>\n

The 71 unanswered runs is a pretty incredible feat to consider, and she emphasized the Bears\u2019 experience and the defense.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I\u2019ve never heard of it. Even when I played, back in high school days, that didn\u2019t happen,\u201d Gordon said. \u201cMost of our infield is seniors and they\u2019ve done a great job. The pitchers do a great job attacking, working ground balls and then just all-around, defensively, we\u2019re great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Rough start hurts Eustis in quest for FHSAA 3A softball state championship<\/a><\/p>\n

Chris Hays can be found on x.com @OS_ChrisHays.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Winter Springs, playing for teammate Kennedy Jackson, who died in October, completed a repeat state championship season on Saturday with a 6-0 win over Niceville.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1531,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-high-school-sports","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nWinter Springs survives emotional season, repeats as 5A state champs - Orlando Relocation Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=1532\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Winter Springs survives emotional season, repeats as 5A state champs - 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