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Deltona's Sophie Stempel, Christina Ortiz and Emily Donohue celebrate after scoring three runs while Columbia catcher Emily Delgado looks on during Thursday's Region 1-5A quarterfinal. (JORDAN KROEGER/Lake City Reporter)
DELTONA — Molded by playoff experience and led by a senior pitcher with a fiery rise ball, Deltona looked the part of a defending state champion.
And while Columbia put up a valiant effort in its first playoff appearance since 2018, one swing of the bat from Veronica Puckett was too much to overcome with Katie McCaw in the circle.
Puckett broke a scoreless tie with a bases-clearing double in the fourth inning and that was just enough run support for McCaw, who threw a two-hitter and held off the No. 7 seed Tigers with 15 strikeouts to deliver a 4-2 win for the No. 2 seed Wolves at home Thursday night in the Region 1-5A quarterfinals.
Just two years ago, it was Deltona (18-4) that was knocked out of the first round of the playoffs before winning the Class 4A state title in 2022. Armed with six seniors again in 2023, the Wolves’ quest to repeat will continue with a matchup against No. 3 seed Fort Walton Beach — a 5-4 winner in eight innings against No. 6 Middleburg — in Tuesday’s regional semifinal.
The prior playoff experience was clearly pivotal against Columbia (16-8), which had quite the contrast with eight underclassmen in the starting lineup Thursday.
“It was a tough game, but obviously this team knows what it’s like to go through this,” Columbia head coach Cindy Dansby said. “They’ve played regionals. They’ve won state. They’re sitting with pretty much two freshmen and all seniors and juniors over there. I’ve got a house full of freshmen and sophomores, so going into this experience and losing 4-2, they can’t hold their heads down.”
McCaw carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning but not without some drama beforehand. The University of Tampa commit walked four batters throughout the night, including the first two of the game that resulted in both runners reaching scoring position only for the Tigers to come up empty before the game was delayed about an hour due to lightning.
Addyson Sherman also drew a leadoff walk in the third inning and stole second only to get left stranded as well. It wasn’t until McCaw walked Zoryana Hughes to start the sixth that Columbia was finally able to register a hit, which happened to be an RBI double by McKenna O’Sullivan to cut the deficit after Deltona went up 4-0 via Delanie Perry’s RBI single in the fifth.
The Wolves then gave the Tigers life in the seventh inning with an errant throw to first base on a ground ball from Alex Collins. The sophomore advanced to second on a groundout and then scored on a single by left fielder Sakiya Merriex, who baited Deltona into another throwing error when she took off for second base.
Merriex got all the way to third on the play before Hughes came to the plate with two outs and a chance to tie the game, but McCaw finished the night off with her 15th strikeout to halt Columbia’s comeback.
“We learned what we’ve got to do. We’ve got to learn how to hit a rise ball or lay off it,” Dansby said. “That’s what got us tonight, not being able to figure out that pitch. She kept us off balance for the most part with most of my younger ones.”
Hughes started in the circle for the Tigers and matched McCaw pitch for pitch through the first three innings. The FAMU signee escaped trouble in the three frames despite putting at least one baserunner on each time, but she couldn’t work herself out of a jam in the fourth.
Sophie Stempel, who went 2 for 3, led off with a single and Christina Ortiz then walked to start the game-changing inning. Hughes struck out Perry and then got Payton Woener to pop up to put two outs on the board, but she followed with a walk to Emily Donohue.
That’s when Puckett stepped to the plate, drilling a rise ball to deep center field that was just out of the reach of Luisa Taylor’s glove to put Deltona up 3-0. Puckett finished 2 for 3 on the night.
“It was a rise ball and it just hung,” Dansbsy said. “She admitted it and she knew it.”
Hughes, who was battling through a blister due to a hole in her shoe, finished the inning off with her eighth strikeout but that was the end of her night. Her final line read three earned runs on six hits and three walks.
Dansby said Hughes kept the injury to herself as she tried to fight through it for the team. But down 3-0, Dansby opted to turn to O’Sullivan, who went the rest of the way with one earned run allowed on two hits and four walks.
“One of the hardest decisions as a coach is to know when to make the change,” Dansby said. “It’s gut-wrenching sometimes because you can make a change and it could be worse, or if you make the change and it could be better. So, I talked to all the coaches about it and we were all in agreeance to let McKenna try. She’s going to be here next year and she needs to know what it’s like to pitch out there.”
O’Sullivan is one of four sophomores, along with nine freshmen, who are set to return next season. Columbia only loses two seniors — third baseman Alexis Blair and Hughes — from a squad that made a huge turnaround this past season after only winning four games in 2022.
A silver lining from the loss? The future appears bright.
“Knowing potential what we have coming back and building on this program is the goal,” Dansby said. “It’s so hard seeing our seniors last game and knowing that they won’t be with us next year, but this is something for the younger ones to build on and look forward to I think.”