Following last year’s state semifinal loss, head coach Erin Spivey remodeled her team’s season.
Parrish was shutout in last year’s state semifinal match, struggling to hit off Pace pitcher Hannah DeMarcus. So, in hopes of returning to the Class 6A Final Four, Spivey scheduled fewer, but more challenging games to prepare the Bulls for state championship-level pitching. She believes teams don’t win a state title at home, so she scheduled as many games away from Parrish as possible.
And on Friday, May 22, in a state semifinal rematch against Pace, Parrish managed to hit and score off DeMarcus. But the Bulls ultimately fell 2-1 in its fourth straight Final Four appearance — winning back-to-back 5A titles in 2023 and 2024 — after Pace rallied in the bottom of the fifth.
“We played a really hard season,” Spivey said. “My kids had to battle all the way through it and they did a really good job and made us better. In the end, they just played a really good game, it just didn’t go our way…I’m really proud of my kids.”
Parrish (18-6-1) recorded three hits against DeMarcus with two coming from junior second baseman Alysa Jones, who smashed the ball deep over the right field fence in the top of the third for the Bulls’ solo run. Junior pitcher Emmaline Van Beck — who struck out nine Pace hitters and allowed five hits — had the third hit.
DeMarcus pitched a complete game, striking out 10 and walking none.
“The game plan was to be up in the front of the box to try to take that curve away,” Spivey said on facing DeMarcus. “It wasn’t helping us with the rise ball so we adjusted and went to the middle of the plate instead of the back of the box, really just tried to jump out in front. And when she gives you the strike, you need to hit when it’s pitched instead of getting behind in the count.”
Despite being down 1-0 for most of the game, Pace (26-4) took over in the fifth.
“We had the game,” Spivey said. “One inning and then it was just unfortunate.”
With two runners on the corners, junior Gracie Ueberroth singled up the middle, sending junior Kennedy Franz home.
Then, senior Ashley Pickard hit a line drive for the go-ahead run, a lead Pace didn’t relinquish.
“They just got lucky hits in spots that were hard to defend,” Spivey said, later adding, “It worked out for them, and it didn’t work out for us.”
In the top of the sixth with two batters on, DeMarcus struck out Van Beck to end the inning. Then, in the seventh, she retired the side to push Pace to its third straight state championship appearance.
But Spivey thinks her young team, which only has one senior, will be better equipped for next season as the Bulls search for another Final Four appearance.
“They learned that they can,” Spivey said. “We learned to be more composed batters in the box and having confidence in ourselves and really working on hitting the pitches where it’s located instead of where we want it to be… We still have some growing to do, but they did make that transformation this spring, and that’s only going to help us down the road next year.”
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Parrish a run short vs. Pace in FHSAA Class 6A softball state semifinal