Regional softball: Seminole County schools dominating as playoffs ramp up
Regional softball tournaments are in full swing, with region quarterfinals beginning for Classes 3A-1A on Wednesday. Once again, Seminole County is well-represented, with six schools still alive and vying to move on to the state final four at Boombah-Soldiers Creek Park in Longwood starting May 19. Three Seminole schools — Winter Springs, Hagerty and Geneva — made it to the state semifinals a year ago, and Winter Springs brought home the state championship in Class 5A .
This year, Winter Springs, Lake Brantley, Hagerty, Lake Howell, Oviedo and The Masters Academy are all still alive and making a playoff run. Winter Springs (19-6) is looking for a repeat, and coach Farah Gordon has a lot of experience that returned from last year after losing just one senior, shortstop Alondra Maldonado. “It’s like deja vu, really, because we play River Ridge next, and if the teams who are expected to win keep winning, we will play the same teams we did last year,” Gordon said.
So what is it that makes these Seminole softball teams so successful? There is more than one answer from the various coaches. Seminole has a variety of experienced coaches at the youth levels, so all of the girls play together on different travel-ball teams and an informal fall-league within the county.
That helps each team build an invaluable camaraderie throughout the year. Winter Springs captures Class 5A state softball championship “A lot of my kids and other kids in the county play together with travel ball, and they know each other and in a way they grew up playing together,” Gordon said. “The travel ball industry in this area is very competitive and good, and you have really good coaches from travel ball to Babe Ruth Leagues investing in the kids, and then the head coaches of the Seminole County high schools are all great coaches.
“They teach the kids great fundamentals and execution and stuff like that. ” First-year Lake Brantley (22-3) coach Eileen Hannigan, who came over after starting the program at Windermere, has seen the Seminole County success and now she is part of it. “I’ve been here for 10 years and in those 10 years, Lake Brantley has been really strong, Hagerty has been really strong, Winter Springs has been really strong and had kids play at Florida State and Ole Miss and in the SEC, like Alabama … all of those schools have been putting players at the next level,” Hannigan said.
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