Strong start not enough for Coral Springs Charter softball in extra-inning loss at state

Through the first five innings of Wednesday’s Class 3A state semifinal against Brooksville Hernando, everything seemingly went right for Coral Springs Charter.

The Panthers scored the game’s first run in the bottom of the fifth, and ace Brianna Godfrey looked to be in complete command with nine strikeouts through the fifth.

Then the good fortune ran out.

Hernando tied the score with an RBI double by Samantha Ellis in the top of the sixth and scored the eventual game-winning runs on a two-out, two-run triple by Solaris Genberg in the bottom of the ninth en route to a 3-1 victory.

“In a low scoring game like this, when you put one on the board, the next inning has to be a shut down for you,” said Panthers coach Mark Montimurro, whose team won 21 of its previous 22 games prior to the semifinal loss. “It wasn’t for us. We gave them some life, and they capitalized on it in extra innings.”

Coral Springs Charter (23-4) took the short-lived lead in the fifth. Sophia Bertorelli doubled to right-center. Courtesy runner Jessica Sacca advanced on a wild pitch by Ava Braswell, and Godfrey singled up the middle to plate her.

But fly balls and walks doomed an otherwise stellar performance by Godfrey. The senior finished with 14 strikeouts, but walked seven and allowed five hits – including Ellis’ double over the center fielder’s head in the sixth to tie the score and Genberg’s triple over the left fielder’s head in the ninth.

“She threw the ball fine,” Montimurro said of Godfrey. “She enticed the flare to left field [by Genberg] and she got their lefty [Ellis] to hit a fly ball to center field. Both balls, in the coaches’ opinion, should have been caught. And, if they were caught, we’d have walked away with a 1-0 win.”

Hernando (25-4) squandered a pair of scoring opportunities in the fifth and seventh innings due to rulings by the umpire. With two out and a runner in scoring position in the fifth, Genberg was called out when she left the box during her plate appearance. Then, in the seventh, Sydney Cline was ruled out on runner’s interference when she tried to advance to third on an infield single by Genberg to end the inning.

“It’s tough,” Hernando coach Kevin Bittinger said. “We tell the girls from the start of the season, our mentality is it’s us versus everybody. . . . We have to earn everything we get, whether it’s the other team, whether it’s a bad hop or whether it’s a call that didn’t think went our way. We still got to play our game. I think our girls did a tremendous job staying in the game regardless of the circumstances.”

Despite the loss, Montimurro sees this year’s state finals run as a harbinger for future success. The Panthers’ entire infield just completed their freshmen seasons, and only Godfrey and designated hitter Taylor Golden graduate.

“There’s a good core here,” Montimurro said. “We deserved a better fate today.”

This story was originally published May 25, 2022 at 4:24 PM.