With competition rising for athletes in Broward County, it's becoming rare for high school sports teams to continually challenge for state championships but don't tell that to the girls' on the Plantation American Heritage softball team.

Last season the Patriots beat McKeel Academy 12-2 to win their third Florida High School Sports Association Class 3A state championship in five seasons and after losing only two players to graduation, Heritage is out to prove that they are the best team in the state again.

''We're excited to start the playoffs,'' sophomore third baseman Bailey Castro said. ``We know that the next seven games are the most important of the season.''

The Patriots take their first step toward a fourth state championship Tuesday, playing host to rival Pine Crest in the first round of the District 14-3A tournament.

This season American Heritage (21-4) returns with a young but exciting team that has a lot of experts making them the favorite in Class 3A.

The Patriots only have two seniors on the team and boast an impressive line up whose average grade is 10th.

Offensively the Patriots are led by Castro and junior second baseman Chelsea Howell. Howell, who bats second, has a .594 average with 28 runs, 21 RBI and 33 stolen bases.

Castro, who orally committed to Florida, is batting .573 with 26 runs, 33 RBI and three home runs.

''We've been doing great all season,'' Castro said.

Defensively the Patriots feature a fierce pitching rotation led by Aimme Chapdelaine. Chapdelaine has been dominant in her trips to the mound this season and has a 6-1 record with a 0.99 ERA and 79 strikeouts.

Heritage coach Marty Cooper has been instrumental in building the softball program from a competitive group of girls to one of the sports' power houses in Florida.

Cooper, who has been coaching for 17 years, led the Patriots to back-to-back state championships in 2004 and 2005, his first two seasons at the school.

One of the first changes Cooper made at Heritage, after being hired from South Plantation, was to implement a new coaching philosophy and build the school's junior varsity program.

''I run my practices about two hours long max,'' Cooper said. ``I make them stay focused for two instead of five [hours] because you lose the players. Our practices are designed to be short and to the point.''

During practice Cooper preaches to his players to do the little things offensively and defensively well. He constantly works with them to learn how to manufacture runs and wants them to think three plays ahead on defense.

''On both sides we try to make the other team think about what we are doing and try to get them out of their game,'' Cooper said.

So far this season Cooper's tactics have paid off for American Heritage. The Patriots are 21-4 with wins against some of the top softball teams in the state.

Heritage has had signature wins over Cooper City, defending Class 6A state champs Palmetto, 6A state runner-up Palm Beach Gardens and nationally ranked Eau Gallie.

The Patriots have one of the toughest schedules in South Florida and Cooper said he thinks it helps prepare his team for the playoffs.

''A lot of these teams have been to states last year or the year before and those are the schools we go after,'' Cooper said. ``We want to be ready for some of best teams in the state when we get there.''

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