Western flips script on Palmetto a year later to earn trip to state softball final four
When Ali Solo’s older sister, Alyssa, was a freshman pitcher at Western High, she experienced what it was like to win a state softball championship.
The younger Solo sister hopes to follow in her footsteps this season.
Ali Solo helped Western at least earn that opportunity on Thursday night when she threw a complete game shutout to help the Wildcats blank Miami Palmetto 3-0 in the Region 4-7A final at Palmetto Bay Park.
Western (16-8-1) clinches its fourth trip all-time to the state semifinals and first since winning that championship - the school’s lone state crown in the sport - in 2018.
Solo, who gave up five hits, struck out four and walked one, immediately called her sister, who graduated last year, on FaceTime after the game to let her know what happened.
It was sweet redemption for the Solo’s and Western, who lost 11-1 to Palmetto in the same round last season with Alyssa pitching.
“I’m taking her place on the team and carrying it on for her,” Solo said. “We were ready for this and did not want to lose to them again here. It feels good to beat them for her. She was really happy for me. That was a good feeling.”
The Wildcats, the No. 5 seed in the region, will play reigning state champion Lakewood Ranch in a 7A semifinal on Friday at 12:30 p.m. at Legend’s Way Ball Fields in Clermont.
Western earned its payback against the Panthers (19-11), who were seeded second, and just could not find any offensive rhythm at the plate for the second consecutive game following a narrow 1-0 victory over Monarch in the regional semifinals.
The Wildcats also eliminated the top seed in the region in West Broward, whom they lost to in the district final, in the regional semifinals.
“We were in the same game last year and we got embarrassed,” said first-year Western coach Johnny Bradshaw, who spent the previous six seasons as an assistant coach under former coach Jeffrey Poole. “We came in with a different mindset this year. We’ve been underdogs the whole year. It showed how much they wanted it and how dedicated they were.
“I believed and the parents believed and the school and administrators believed, but they had to believe.”
Meagan Ramos delivered the big hit that broke a scoreless stalemate in the top of the fourth when she doubled to right center to drive in Avery Olsen. Melanie Carr came around to score on the next at-bat on a sac fly by Solo. Alana Cypress added a third run in the fifth when she hit a run scoring double.
“Last year nothing went our way, but this time we wanted to prove to ourselves that we could do it,” Ramos said. “I broke her no-hitter last year to drive in our lone run in that game. That was on an inside pitch and I had a feeling she’d try to pitch me outside and that’s where I missed before so I just went for it.”
This story was originally published May 19, 2022 at 11:57 PM.
