LONGWOOD, Fla. (May 9, 2022) - The College of Central Florida capped a dominating weekend by defeating Mid-Florida Conference rival Seminole State College, 10-2, to the win the FCSAA Softball Championship.
The FCSAA title was accompanied by the NJCAA South Atlantic District A Championship and a berth in the NJCAA Division I Softball Championships in Yuma, Ariz.
The Patriots will be joined at the tournament by Florida SouthWestern State College, who won three straight elimination games to claim the NJCAA South Atlantic District B Championship.
Central Florida took three of the four regular season meetings with Seminole State, but the Raiders came into Sunday's championship tilt on the heels of a 2-0 win over defending national champion Florida SouthWestern State College behind the brilliant pitching performance of Keivana Durand.
The Patriots jumped on the Raiders immediately, scoring three runs in the top of the first and led 5-1 as Seminole State came to bat in the third.
Central Florida put the game away in the seventh.
With one run already on the board, Hannah Meyer smacked a two-run homer to left center to make it a 9-2 ball game. The Patriots tacked on one more run, and Tournament Most Valuable Player Savannah Barnett pitched a scoreless seventh for her third complete-game victory of the tournament.
Barnett also beat St. Petersburg College (7-4) and Pensacola State College (6-1) in advance of Saturday's championship game victory.
She was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Meyer, Gianna Guerriero, Brook Roberts and Kamaya Cohen.
Central Florida's Tike Gardner was recognized as the FCSAA Coach of the Year.
Despite the loss, Seminole State had a second opportunity to claim a berth to the national championship and awaited the team who emerged from the loser's bracket.
After scoring only four runs in its first two games, Florida SouthWestern found its offensive stroke on Sunday, eliminating St. Petersburg, 12-0, to set up a showdown with Pensacola State, who knocked out Chipola College with a 6-0 victory.
Though it didn't happen when expected by many of the pundits, the tournament's penultimate game delivered what was expected in a #1 (Florida SouthWestern) vs. #2 (Pensacola State) showdown.
Trailing 2-1, the Bucs scored twice in the top of the sixth then survived bases-loaded rallies from the Pirates in each of their final two at-bats. As part of the seventh-inning escape, Florida SouthWestern cut down the would-be tying run at the plate and stayed alive with a 3-2 victory to earn a rematch with Seminole State.
On Monday, Seminole took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first but FSW scored 13 unanswered runs en route to a 13-1 victory.
For all intent and purposes, the Bucs put the game away with a 7-run second and tallied 17 hits for the game.
Feline Poot drove in five runs as part of a 2-for-3 game. Belle Sardja followed up her complete-game win against Pensacola State with another wire-to-wire effort.
Poot and Sardja were joined on the All-Tournament Team by Charlotte Drijvers and Caroline Figueroa while Seminole State was represented by Durand and Taylor Thomas.
Rounding out the All-Tournament Team was Kyla Knier (Indian River State College), Janelle Martinez (Chipola College), Lydia Drake (Pensacola State) and Georgia Hood (Pensacola State).