South Tampa Girls Softball Heading to Nationals

Turn back the clock, August 3, Wednesday night. The Palma Ceia/West Tampa girls are locked in a 2-2 tie with a tough Tennessee team. The girls come up in the sixth inning and load the bases with no outs. They are on the brink of cracking the game wide open, when it seemed like fate slammed the door closed. The Tennessee girls came up with a miraculous triple play to escape the inning.

Unfortunately, for Tennessee, fate had yet to deal team Florida their final card.

“Kasey Wishart came up to bat in the seventh and I told her that this is the at-bat she’d been waiting for her whole life,” said head coach Mike Valdes. “I’d noticed their pitcher had been throwing a lot of first-pitch strikes, I told Kasey her best chance was that first pitch.”

It was sound advice. The Tennessee pitcher threw a fastball with her first pitch and Kasey, 15, crushed it over the center field wall for a two-run homerun.

The girls added another run in the eighth inning and pitcher Nikki Lopez, 15, closed out her complete game with a 5-2 victory.

This was the closest call the girls had on their inexorable journey back to nationals.

They have yet to lose a game.

They blasted through districts, won all three games at sectionals, then beat Naples 4-0 in a complete game shutout by Nikki Lopez to claim the state title. At southeast regionals, they beat: Virginia, Alabama, and West Virginia in pool play with a combined score of 28-0. The Georgia state champion team gave team Florida their biggest test but the girls prevailed 1-0 and met up with fate and Tennessee in the southeast regional finals.

The girls are no strangers to national competition.

Last year’s team made it to the national finals, losing to team Puerto Rico by one run. Three girls from that team are on this year’s team.

“We have customized practice shirts that have, ‘Unfinished Business’ written on the back,” said VP of Palma Ceia softball Rip Weachter.

The girls seem to be inching closer and closer to that elusive national title. In 2008, the girls team finished fifth at nationals. In 2009, they came in third. Last year they came in second.

What will be their fate this year?

They are traveling to Kirkland, Washington this weekend and will face nine other teams from around the world to decide just that.

On Monday, they will play the Midwest team in the first game of pool play. On Tuesday, they will go against host team Washington. On Wednesday, they play team Asia-Pacific, and on Thursday they will wrap group play against team Canada.

The top two teams from each of the two groups will advance to the semifinals on Friday and the championship game will be that Saturday.

“We knew all along that we were capable of challenging for nationals,” said Valdes.

“It’s a tremendous accomplishment for the girls,” said Weachter.

“It’s been a great experience for them to meet people from around the world that they wouldn’t otherwise have an opportunity to meet,” said Palma Ceia Little League President Mark Sakalosky. “It’s an experience they’ll take with them for the rest of their lives.”