The Wellington High School girls varsity softball team has finally reached the mountain top. This year’s team earned the title of Florida high school state champion, but it took parts of two days to make it official. It was the first state championship in girls softball history for WHS.
Because of a five-hour rain delay on Saturday, May 24, the Florida High School Athletic Association’s (FHSAA) Class 7A state championship girls softball game between the WHS Wolverines and the Huskies from Hagerty High School didn’t start until 10:07 p.m. at Boombah-Soldiers Creek Park in Longwood.
After nearly three hours of play, the game-winning run was scored by Wellington’s Jessilyn Vera, who crossed home plate just after 1 a.m. on Sunday, May 25. In the end, Wellington outscored Hagerty, 6-5, but it took a Kansas City Tiebreaker to determine the winner in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Wellington started the eighth inning with Vera at second base, as per the Kansas City Tiebreaker. The score was 5-5. With no balls and two strikes on Wellington’s Samantha Ellis, Wellington third base coach Bob Schmidt gave Vera the sign to steal third, which caught Hagerty — and the entire Wellington team — by surprise. Vera was safe at third.
One pitch later, with a 1-2 count on Ellis, she pulled the ball to deep right field. After it was caught by Hagerty’s Addison Bell, it allowed Vera to tag from third base and score on the sacrifice fly. It was the biggest run of the year for the Wolverines.
“The girls erupted in the dugout. It was pure joy and mayhem,” said Wellington head coach Mark Boretti, who just finished his 16th year leading the squad.
According to Boretti, he knew the game would be close and competitive.
“Hagerty is a good team,” Boretti said. “We watched Hagerty’s win the night before against Western in the state semifinal.”
Wellington earned its spot in the state championship game by overwhelming Sarasota High School, 15-0, in the other state semifinal.
Boretti noted that the championship game against Hagerty featured many game-changing contributions by many of his players with their bodies and their bats. In a sport that is so focused on pitching prowess, it was the standout performances by Wellington’s position players that made the difference throughout the game.
“Erryn Lowe made a diving catch at second base late in the game with two of their runners on base. Kaylee Riles had at least three long stretches to catch balls thrown to her at first base. Maddie Touchet had an incredible throw to first from shortstop to get a big out during the game. Right fielder Samantha Ellis had two or three amazing catches in the outfield. Catcher Angelina Baronci made a number of great stops behind the plate. And in the top of the eighth, with the bases loaded, two outs and the game tied at five, third baseman Catalina Baronci fielded an extremely hard-hit ground ball to her left, which she calmly fielded and threw to first base for the third out,” Boretti said.
As for Wellington’s starting pitcher, Tori Payne, she was a workhorse on the mound. Statistically, it wasn’t Payne’s best game inside the circle, but it wasn’t her worst game, either. In the eight-inning affair, Payne threw 140 pitches, scattered 10 hits, issued five walks and recorded two strikeouts. Of Hagerty’s five runs, four of them were earned.
On offense, many players contributed to Wellington’s success. Payne was 3-for-3 with two runs scored and one RBI, Angelina Baronci was 3-for-4 with two RBIs, and Gabby D’Arcangelo was 1-for-2 with a run scored. Wellington’s six runs were scored by five players — Payne, D’Arcangelo, Touchet, Riles and Vera.
Wellington never trailed against Hagerty. The Wolverines took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Hagerty tied the game, 1-1, in the top of the third, but Wellington regained the lead, 3-1, in the bottom of the third. The Wolverines extended their lead to 4-1 in the bottom of the fourth, then Hagerty cut Wellington’s lead to 4-3 in the top of the sixth. Wellington expanded its lead to 5-3 in the bottom of the sixth, before Hagerty tied the game, 5-5, in the top of the seventh. Wellington was unable to win the game in the bottom of the seventh, which sent the game to extra innings, where the Kansas City Tiebreaker was used. In that scenario, each team begins its inning with a runner at second base and no outs.
For Hagerty, the Huskies loaded the bases with two outs in the top half of the eighth. With center fielder Alexis Felker in the batter’s box, she drilled a ground ball between Catalina Baronci at third base and Touchet at shortstop, which Baronci snagged and threw to Riles at first to end that threat.
In the bottom of the eighth, Vera scored on the previously mentioned sacrifice fly to right field to win the game and secure the Class 7A state title in the early morning hours of Sunday, May 25.
Boretti said this year’s team was motivated by the loss in last year’s regional final against rival Jupiter High School, but the foundation of their success as a team started in early April.
“Just before the game against the Doral Academy, we had a team meeting, and from that meeting, we emerged as a united team,” Boretti said. “Little-by-little, day-by-day, and game-by-game, we became more united as a team. The girls understood the importance of the term WE and not ME. Prior to that meeting, we were a divided team.”
Wellington finished its season by stringing together 10 straight wins. In addition to the victory against Hagerty, the other big wins along the way were a pair of victories against Jupiter — a 5-3 win in the district championship game on April 30 and a 4-0 shutout in the regional final on May 15.
Besides Payne, D’Arcangelo, Vera, Touchet, Riles, Lowe, Vera, Ellis and the Baronci sisters, other members of Wellington’s softball team were Molly Smith, Fiona Gannon, Brianna Casey, Hailey Hirsch, Yanaira Andrade, Gabi de los Reyes, Jasmine Jones, Grace VanDyke, Cameron Vickers and Sam Gregory. Boretti’s two assistant coaches were Schmidt and Jackie Humphrey. The team concluded its season with a 23-4 record.
