By Kyle LoJacono
Academy at the Lakes softball fought back from a two-run deficit to defeat Deltona Trinity Christian 3-2 in the Class 2A regional semifinals April 30, winning the home contest in walk-off fashion.
The win advances the Wildcats (10-5) to consecutive regional finals.
“There was no panic when we were down,” said second-year academy coach Jerry English. “They knew they’d have a couple more chances to win this game.”
Wildcats sophomore catcher Skyler Boynton drove in senior Maria Aumaitre from third with a single through the right side of the infield with two outs in the seventh inning to break a 2-2 tie. It is the academy’s first walk-off hit of the season and Skyler’s first in high school.
“I just wanted to make hard contact, because as long as you do that you never know what can happen and where it will go,” Skyler said. “Luckily we won the game because of it. … Once I saw that I got a hard hit I knew it was 50/50 that she would field it or not. I just ran to first, I saw Maria rounding third and the ball was still in the outfield. I knew we’d won, and it was exciting because I knew I’d done my job.”
Sydney Boynton, Skyler’s older sister, gave her a pep talk just before the catcher stepped into the batter’s box.
“I told her just single contact is all we need, preferably to the outfield so Maria could score,” said Sydney, a senior pitcher. “I said that I’d done what I needed to do the inning before, and now it’s up to you, and she did.”
Sydney got the scoring started for the Wildcats in the sixth inning with a sacrifice fly to score Katherine Smith to cut the Eagles’ (10-8) lead to 2-1.
“I was a little bit nervous because in my first at bat I did not do very well, popped up to the first baseman,” Sydney said. “I drew a walk in the second at bat, so going into that last at bat I didn’t have a lot of confidence and just wanted to get it in play so that we could score at least one of the runners.”
Senior first baseman Andrea Mauger tied the contest one batter later by bringing in Lauren Evans from third base with a ground out to Trinity first baseman Katherine Brunning.
“I just wanted to get the ball in play,” Mauger said. “I got out, but I knew if I put it on the ground to the right side, then Lauren would be able to score and tie the game.”
The victory allowed Mauger to play in her fifth regional finals game while in high school, the other four in basketball. She said she wasn’t nervous stepping to the plate before her game-tying RBI despite playing in her first softball season since age 10.
“Whenever I have a situation like that I just know I have to do it,” Mauger said. “I had to hit the ball if I wanted to win, so I went in with the mentality that I was going to hit the ball no matter what.”
Wildcats assistant Tom Haslam, who is also the school’s athletic director, used one word to describe Mauger — winner.
“She told me she would drive in that run when she was going to the plate, and I had no doubt in my mind that she would,” Haslam said.
Sydney worked all seven innings, recording six strikeouts to one walk despite having her changeup, which she calls her best pitch, inconsistent.
“When it’s on it sets up all my other pitches, and I was just lucky to get out of this game,” Sydney said. “The changeup was ending up in the dirt a lot, so I had to use my riseball a lot more and a little bit of my dropball, and also my screwball and curveball.”
The Wildcats hosted Quincy Munroe May 6, but results were not available by press time.
