Coral Springs Charter ‘slays dragons’ on its way back to state softball semis

Sometimes it just comes down to slaying dragons.

Less than 48 hours after traveling south and slaying one, the Coral Springs Charter softball team took down a second dragon on Thursday afternoon in Fort Lauderdale when it knocked out nationally-ranked Cardinal Gibbons, 3-1, in the Region 4-3A championship at Gibbons’ home field.

After rallying to knock off long-time nemesis Somerset Silver Palms in a Region 4-3A semifinal, prompting assistant coach Paul Gorlick to yell to the players in the postgame huddle, ‘you’ve slain one dragon, now let’s go get the second one’ they had an even bigger hurdle in front of them.

The Panthers, who have usually enjoyed being the No. 1 seed each year and play on their home field, had to do it the hard way this time going on the road as the No. 3 seed. On Thursday afternoon, they traveled to take on the No. 19 nationally-ranked Chiefs (26-2), which came in with arguably the best pitcher in South Florida on the mound in Stanford signee Lydia Berent. They also would have to beat a team that had already beaten them twice previously this season.

But the Panthers never blinked. Thanks to two huge home runs and a great performance by their own pitcher, Courtney Wahlbrink, Coral Springs Charter emerged a winner in the game that counted the most.

With that, the Panthers, who won a state-record five consecutive state titles from 2015-19, clinched their first trip to the state semifinals since 2022, and only their second since that championship streak.

Springs Charter (21-4) will play Lakeland McKeel Academy in a 3A state semifinal at Soldiers Creek Park in Longwood (just outside of Orlando) on Thursday at 10 a.m.

“Most of this particular group has never been there, and they didn’t really know what it was like to experience going to state so we tried to paint a picture of how special an experience it is,” Charter coach Mark Montimurro said. “We never wanted to get too far ahead of ourselves because we knew the gauntlet we were going to have to go through, but we knew we had the group to do it if we brought our A game.”

And the Panthers did just that, especially Wahlbrink, who allowed just three baserunners through six innings (on two walks and a hit batter) and had a no-hitter going to the seventh. Thanks to Cameron Thiele and Jazzy Chung, she also enjoyed a 3-0 lead going to the last frame.

Thiele rocketed a two-out solo home run over the fence in left center in the third inning before Chung stepped up with a runner on and two outs in the top of the sixth and did the exact same thing. It was a stunning moment as Berent had only given up one home run all season.

“She (Berent) had been pitching outside all three games on us so when I got a pitch high and inside, I took the opportunity of the mis-pitch,” Thiele said. “We were mainly focused on bunting the last two games against her, but today I came in with a different confidence knowing that my bat was strong enough to hit a ball off of her and just having that extra piece of confidence allowed me to feel free in the box and just swing hard. I knew it was gone off the bat. We got another dragon today!!”

Coral Springs Charter and Gibbons had a pair of close finishes twice over the last month. First in the BCAA championship game when the Chiefs scored a walk-off run in the last of the seventh for a 1-0 victory and two weeks ago, a 3-2 Gibbons win in extra innings in the district championship game. Montimurro confirmed the change in strategy against Berent coming into Thursday.

“The last two practices we focused on shortening our swings and putting the sweet spot on the ball, eliminating her strikeout capability which is elite obviously,” he said. “We thought the more balls we put in play, the better chance we would have to win this game, and we were fortunate that two went over the fence.”

Wahlbrink lost her no-hitter when sophomore Skylar Flack led off the seventh with a base hit to right center. Wahlbrink recorded the next two outs on a fielder’s choice ground out and a fly ball to right. But Morgan Beavers ruined her shutout bid when she laced a shot to right that Leah Rutherford dove for but couldn’t handle as Flack scored.

That brought Sloane Schaefer to the plate representing the tying run. Schaefer hit a low line drive but right at Chung, the shortstop, to end the game and get the Panther celebration on the field going.

“This was the third time playing them, so I went to school on what their weaknesses were and locked in on that,” said Wahlbrink, who is committed to Charlotte University. “Then it was a matter of throwing strikes and trying to stay ahead in the count. When you can do that, you’re more in control of things. What a great feeling today. We suffered all of those close losses in the regional finals the last three years (CSC suffered three straight regional final losses at home to Silver Palms) so I’ve really missed it. I was actually a seventh grader on that 2022 team that went to state so it feels great to finally be going back.”

For Cardinal Gibbons, it was heartbreak times 10.

The Chiefs had been forced to play in the giant shadow of Silver Palms and Charter over the years but, under third year coach Emily Estroff, who played for Montimurro on one of those state championship teams in 2018, emerged as a South Florida power this year, making only their second ever regional final appearance and first since 2010.

This story was originally published May 15, 2026 at 2:10 PM.