Winning a championship is tough, but defending it is even more challenging.
Then, there are teams such as Plant City High’s softball team that do it more than once.
The Raiders ensured that their 17-2 (8-0 district) record didn’t go to waste in the 8A-District 6 tournament, locking up a playoff spot with a 5-2 win over Durant Wednesday, April 26, and retaining the title in a 1-0 win over East Bay Friday, April 28. The win gave Plant City its third district title in its three seasons under the guidance of head coach Ashley Bullion.
“It’s a great feeling,” Bullion says. “But, it’s also like the feeling of having a target on our backs. We’re the dog to beat … last year, and right now, we’ve been the top dog. When you’re the top dog, everyone wants to beat you.”
To start its second title defense, Plant City first had to shake off some nerves. It's tough, after all, performing under the pressure of a title defense.
Before the Raiders could calm down, Durant had jumped out to a 2-0 lead by the top of the semifinal game’s second inning. Lauren Estrada and Kelly Swank had driven in runs for the Cougars, with Estrada scoring Mia Giovenco and Swank scoring Estrada. But Plant City was eventually able to settle down and find its rhythm.
The Raiders scored five unanswered runs in the second, third and fourth innings, and pitcher Ashley Blessin finished with nine strikeouts and no walks. Bullion says that the win gave her players, who started the day anxious, all the confidence they needed to meet East Bay in the title game.
The two teams played each other evenly, limiting errors but failing to score runs. That changed in the bottom of the sixth, when Abbie DeWeese recorded the game’s lone RBI and scored Edmilly Molina. The Indians had no answer, as Blessin — the Plant City Times & Observer’s top athlete of 2016 — continued to shut them down, ending with 10 strikeouts.
The Raiders drew a home matchup Wednesday, May 3, against Steinbrenner to kick off regionals. The last time the two teams met, in Bullion’s first year, Steinbrenner eliminated Plant City from the regional semifinals in April 2015.
Results for Wednesday’s game were not available at press time, but the Raiders had a good night: they picked up a 4-1 win at home and locked in a Tuesday, May 9, home rematch against East Bay.
The Raiders wrapped up the regular season on top of the district stat sheet: the team was the only one to post a record over .500 in 8A-6 play, as well as the only one to score more than 30 and allow fewer than 20 runs against district foes. The next-closest total to Plant City’s 40-to-9 differential of runs for to runs against was East Bay, which scored 23 runs in 8A-6 play and gave up 20. No other 8A-6 team scored more runs than it gave up in district play.
Bullion says that the team’s success thus far has been defined by its culture, and by the players’ willingness to buy into her system — which she refers to as looking “neurotic” to them — beginning several years ago. When the team’s desire to win at everything it does, on and off the field, is coupled with confidence, results have tended to follow.
Just ask the rest of the district.
“It’s not just winning the game,” Bullion says. “It’s winning in the classroom. It’s winning, getting enough sleep. It’s winning by eating breakfast. It’s doing all of those things to train yourself to be a champion.”
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.