Sports
Canterbury Softball Champion Quest: Is the Fourth Time the Charm?
In the previous three seasons, the Crusaders advanced to the FHSAA state softball tournament, only to return home without any hardware. With a renewed focus on offense, the team hopes a fourth trip is rewarded.
ST. PETERSBURG - For many schools, advancing to a state tournament for the fourth consecutive season might be a cause of celebration.
Not so much with Canterbury High School's softball team.
The reason for the lack of excitement is that with each previous trip, the Crusaders came home empty-handed. It's sort of a sore spot for the team.
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"That would be true," Canterbury coach Jody Moore said.
"Yeah, it's frustrating," star catcher/pitcher Krissy Longstreet said of not obtaining a championship despite multiple opportunities. "But you can see now how things were lacking the last three years. This year, we're not lacking."
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The squad has an air of determination. For many seniors, this is their last chance. Many may never play organized softball again once this week is finished.
"We have been practicing every day with focusing on hitting," said center fielder Sarah Fleming. "We are more confident in our hitting, we are gaining our confidence back and realizing the mechanics of hitting and knowing it's not about getting a hit, but scoring a run."
The Crusaders have had too many scares this season with lack of offense, in particular a region quarterfinal game in which Canterbury won 1-0 in extra-innings.
Since then, the team has mainly practiced hitting, practiced with a newfound purpose.
"We play a game called 'Score a Run,'" Longstreet said. "If we don't score a run with three outs, we have to run laps."
Longstreet noted that has motivated the Crusaders to begin concentrating more on hitting.
Moore calls this "situational hitting." Sometimes, players have to realize moving a runner over or scoring a runner is more important than getting a hit.
"Our hitting has come around, absolutely," Moore said. "We have adjusted. We are getting the batters to realize where the baserunner is and to maximize scoring runs and that has made a huge impact. We have really focused on the fundamentals with our hitting coaches."
"You have to get hits to score runs and you have to score runs to win," Longstreet said.
The Class 1A state semifinal game will pit Canterbury against Central Florida Christian Academy Wednesday at 2 p.m. at the National Training Center in Clermont.
