As they say in high school sports, it’s not easy beating a team three times in one season, but the Wellington High School girls softball team pulled off the trifecta against the Palm Beach Gardens High School Gators.
On Tuesday, May 17 at Wellington High School, the Wolverines won the most important of the three games versus Palm Beach Gardens, prevailing 3-1 in their Class 7A, Region 4 semifinal game.
The Wolverines, now 22-3, advanced to the Class 7A, Region 4 final on Friday, May 20, when they will travel to Park Vista High School to play the Cobras. At stake is a berth in the Florida High School Athletic Association’s Class 7A state final four in Clermont on May 27-28.
On Tuesday night, Wellington was led by pitcher Jordan White, who struck out nine, allowed six hits and drove in the first run of the game with a second-inning single to center field. Wellington added single runs in the fourth and fifth innings.
The Gators had many chances to take the lead, or at least tie the score, but White’s pitching neutralized the Gators’ bats. Gardens was able to get the lead-off hitter on base in four innings, but never got a runner to third base until the seventh inning. In all, the Gators stranded nine runners on base.
Trailing 3-0 going into the top of the seventh inning, the Gators kept playing hard. With one out, leadoff hitter Reagan Towns reached first on a single down the left field line. One out later, Kairi Rodriguez drilled a two-out double off the top of the center field fence to drive in Towns. Wellington then led 3-1. The Gardens offense then stalled, thanks to White’s proficiency. White struck out Aaliyah Crews to end the game. The Wellington bench erupted into a big celebration.
To give the visiting Gators credit, they silenced the normally powerful bat of Wellington senior slugger Gabby Mack, who was held hitless in three at-bats.
Wellington coach Mark Boretti was not concerned about the lack of productivity from his senior first baseman.
“It’s always somebody different who steps forward with a key hit to lead the way,” Boretti said. “It has been that way the whole season. Tonight, we had strong defense, awesome pitching from Jordan White, and timely hitting. It was team effort in every sense of the word.”
For Wellington, three different players drove in runs and three different players crossed home plate. Wellington’s hottest hitter was senior center fielder Morea Hodge, who had a single, a triple and scored a run in three at-bats. Hodge bats ninth in the lineup.
“For us, having Morea bat last is like having a second lead-off hitter in the batting order,” Boretti said.
As for White’s pitching performance, she said the key to her success was controlling two specific pitches.
“Tonight, the rises and screws were great,” White said. “Late in the game, my drop balls were working.”
According to Boretti, he’ll keep the pitching rotation the same.
“Jordan White will start on the mound on Friday night in our game against Park Vista,” he said.
Friday’s game versus Park Vista will be a rematch of their regular season game when the Cobras defeated the Wolverines 4-3 back on April 12.
Wellington’s softball squad, led by Boretti, has advanced to the state final four on two previous occasions, 2011 and 2017.
