2016 goes down as the first year Strawberry Crest’s softball team will play in a state championship series.
Mindy Miltner’s gotten enough Gatorade baths over the years to flood the softball team clubhouse.
But the only head coach in Strawberry Crest High School’s program history never felt as good about those showers of sports drinks and ice cubes as she did Friday, April 29. That one happened because, for the first time ever, Crest’s girls made it to the FHSAA state championship series.
“This was huge for us,” Miltner says.
HOW THEY DID IT
The first thing that jumps off the page about this Crest team is its ability to get on base.
The Lady Chargers reach base safely just over 40% of the time and carry a solid .332 batting average as a team.
Seven of its top 11 hitters (with at least 20 games played) are batting over .270 individually. Senior Kasey Locke leads that group with a .474 average.
Locke leads the offense in just about every hitting statistic: batting average, slugging percentage (.747 — 20 games or more), hits (45), RBI (25), doubles (11), triples (three) and home runs (three).
But when this team gets going, anyone can be a threat.
Take the district championship game, a 10-0 win over Wharton. Crest scored 10 runs on 18 hits, with nine RBI. Locke went 4-for-4 with two RBI and a run, and senior Rebecca Roberts went 3-for-3 with three RBI and a run. Ashleigh Vogt, Brandy Ashmore, Scottie Todd and Taylor Finney each picked up more than one hit in that game and, of that group, only Todd did not score a run.
Take the regional final, against Oakleaf. Finney got to play heroine by going 2-for-3 with a two-RBI single — the runs that would later prove to be the daggers. Five batters — Finney, Ashmore, Roberts, Kaylan Kelly and Stephanie Dwyer — drove in runs that evening.
Also helping the Chargers from the pitching mound is Todd, who has had a great season: 2.10 ERA, 17 wins, 83 strikeouts and a .217 batting average. Other teams reach base just 26% of the time when the senior ace is throwing the ball, and she’s shown that she can dominate big games (one hit, two walks allowed against Wharton) and get out of jams in others (including two against Oakleaf).
“I’m pretty excited to get back out there on the field and for us to give it our all,” Todd says.
But, the number one key to success everyone in the program points to? Chemistry.
“I’ve never seen girls get along this well,” Miltner says. “They’re playing well. They’re playing together.”
Considering the caliber of talent Miltner has seen come through Dover in her seven seasons with the program, that says a lot. And, given the result of Crest’s efforts this season, it’s believable.
The only thing the team will have to worry about is how it’ll handle a completely new situation.
VS. BARTOW
Crest will take on the Bartow Lady Yellow Jackets, one of the more storied programs in the state.
This year marked the 18th time Bartow has made it to the state semifinals, tying a record set by Naples High School. MaxPreps.com has the team ranked 13th in the state of Florida and 97th in the nation — compared to rankings of 67th and 852nd, respectively, for the Lady Chargers.
Bartow is led on the mound by freshman ace Jaden Williamson, who boasts a 1.04 ERA and holds opposing batters to a paltry .189 average. She allows runners to get on base a little more frequently than Todd but has still been a fearsome pitcher for the Lady Yellow Jackets.
The team edges out Crest in most offensive categories, but the Lady Chargers have been more successful on the basepaths (24 steals to Bartow’s 18) and on defense (94% success rate to Bartow’s 93%).
The Friday, May 6, matchup will be a tough test. And, if they win, there will be an even more difficult setup against the winner of Clearwater-Countryside and Fort Lauderdale-St. Thomas Aquinas.
Fortunately for Crest fans, teams don’t make it this far by accident.
“I just want them to play hard and play like we’ve been doing in this postseason, and we’ll be OK,” Miltner says.
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.
