CLERMONT, Fla. (May 6, 2023) - A three-run first inning was all Lake-Sumter State College needed in a 3-2 win over Pasco-Hernando State College to win the FCSAA Division II/NJCAA Region 8 Softball Championship.

It took two tries for Lake-Sumter State to win its first FCSAA Championship on the diamond after Pasco-Hernando State forced Saturday's "if" with a 3-1 win in Championship Game #1 on Friday evening. Given a reprieve, the Lakehawks soared to a 3-0 lead after their first at-bat, knocking out Bobcats' starter Savannah Lee, who was the winning pitcher in Friday's 3-1 win. 

Raquel Camuglia's RBI-double scored Desiree Romeo with the first run of the game. After Reese Snipes scored on a wild pitch, Camuglia came home on a single by Kreighton Steinke. 

Pasco-Hernando State got a run back in the bottom of the first on Gracie Stanley's RBI-double, but the teams scored only one run the rest of the game - a solo homer by the Bobcats' Taylor Tremmel in the fourth. 

Darian Pippin pitched five innings to notch her first win of the tournament and Ali Shenefield locked up the Tournament's Most Outstanding Pitcher Award with two scoreless innings for the save. 

Shenefield pitched in all four tournament games, going 2-1 with one save and 24 strikeouts in 16.2 innings. 

She beat Pasco-Hernando State, 5-1, in the tournament opener, and was on the losing end against the Bobcats on Friday. She picked up a win in relief against South Florida State College when Lake-Sumter State rallied to force extra innings en route to a 4-3, nine-inning victory on Thursday. 

Shenefield was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Pippin, Steinke, Molly Bender and Camuglia, who was named the Tournament's Most Outstanding Player. 

Lee was one of four Bobcats on the All-Tournament Team, along with Alexis Joy, Emily Proctor and Joyce Bloom, who batted .600 (9-for-15) for the tournament.

Also making the All-Tournament Team were South Florida State's Taylor McFann and Kaedyn Holcomb and St. Johns River State College's Kendall Catherwood.

By virtue of winning the FCSAA Championship, Lake-Sumter State's Jay Miller was named FCSAA Division II Softball Coach of the Year. 

Lake-Sumter State (42-17) will host second-ranked Louisburg (N.C.) College (58-2) in the NJCAA South Atlantic District Championship Series on May 12 and 13. The best-of-three begins at noon on Friday in Leesburg, Fla.