Cape Junior All-Stars earn impressive win in Southeast Regional opener
Over the past several weeks, the Cape Coral Softball Junior All-Star team practiced and prepared diligently for the start of the Southeast Regional Tournament.
When the time came for Saturday’s opener at Fleishman Park against state champion Columbus, Ga., Cape showed up focused and ready, and with ace pitcher Maddy Peres on the mound, and a plan to be sharp defensively and aggressive on the bases.
Peres delivered a stellar pitching performance and many of the other elements came together for Cape, resulting in a 6-0 win over Georgia in the first pool play game.
Peres had a no-hit bid broken up in the bottom of the seventh inning, but finished with a complete-game shutout. She fanned nine batters, including two in a row after the lone single by Georgia loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh. She got the final batter to ground out.
Cape did not commit an error and made several clutch defensive plays to support Peres.
“I can’t just pitch, there has to be a defense behind me,” Peres, 14, said, “and they did a really great job.”
In contrast, Georgia made four errors in the field. From the first inning on, Cape put the pressure on by bunting and advancing runners.
Cape finished with 11 hits. The team bunted nine times, resulting in either infield singles or sacrifices, and swiped 10 bases.
Leadoff hitter Kaitlynn Grubb served as the catalyst with four stolen bases. She went 4-for-5 with four bunt singles and scored three runs. Jessica Nuccio had three hits and three RBI.
“We come out and look at the other team and see what they have and then go from there,” Cape manager Bob Nuccio said of the aggressive strategy. “We see where they’re playing and make the call at that time. We know who is fast on our team, we know who can put the bunt down and move runners over; it’s just getting everything working as one.”
Cape is one of seven teams from six different states competing in the Southeast Regional at Fort Myers American Little League’s Fleishman Park. The teams are playing for one berth in the Junior League Softball World Series in Kirkland, Wash.
While the other six teams qualified by winning state championships, Cape received an automatic bid to the Southeast Regional as the host district team.
They’ll play their second pool play game Monday at 5 p.m. against North Carolina. The top two teams from the three-team pool advance to the semifinals on Tuesday. The championship game is scheduled for Wednesday.
The Cape team, which was assembled in mid-June, features many of the top girls’ ages 13-14 from Burton Park.
In addition to practicing in preparation for the Southeast Regional, the team played in a few travel tournaments to remain sharp.
They performed well and won championships at those tournaments, but still weren’t sure what to expect from the out-of-state competition at the Southeast Regional.
“I think we were confident, but nervous,” said catcher Amber Plaza.
Cape got off to a favorable start Saturday and the team seemed to settle in after that.
Grubb led off the top of the first inning with a bunt single. She stole second and moved to third on Plaza’s sacrifice. Nuccio executed another bunt single in front of home plate, which allowed Grubb to race home from third.
In the bottom of the first, Peres made quick work of Georgia, striking out the side. She added that the first-inning lead helped her on the mound.
“It boosts your confidence a little better since you have a lead,” she said. “There is more pressure when you’re behind, but either way you still have to keep focused.”
Cape, again, used its crafty base running to take a 2-0 lead in the top of the third. Nuccio led off with a single, and then Myranda Reed replaced Nuccio as a courtesy runner. After Reed took second on a wild pitch, she ran halfway between second and third, baiting Georgia’s catcher to make a decision. The toss back to the mound was dropped by the pitcher, and Reed went to third. Emily England’s sacrifice RBI plated Reed.
Cape added to the lead with two runs in the fourth and one run in both the fifth and sixth innings, respectively.
Morgan Cole came on as a pinch runner after Alyssa Langdale led off the fourth with a walk. Cole stole second and scored when Georgia made an error at first on an infield single by Grubb.
Nuccio had an RBI single to account for Cape’s fourth run, and the lead grew to 5-0 in the fifth when Langdale’s RBI single scored Tori Fields.
As Cape’s lead grew, it took some sound defensive plays to keep Georgia from gaining momentum.
After Peres retired the first eight Georgia batters in order, April Harden and Phyliss Rackley both walked with two outs in the third. On a pickoff attempt, Cape’s catcher, Plaza, fired down to first base and that forced both runners to try and advance. England alertly threw to third and Nuccio applied the tag on the lead runner.
Other key plays came in the fourth, when Plaza threw down to first and picked off a runner, and in the second, when second baseman Meghan Sullivan showed good range in moving towards the bag to scoop up a grounder and toss to first.
As Peres took the mound for the seventh, she had her sights set on the no-hitter, but after consecutive walks, Georgia’s Kari Kinser singled up the middle.
The ball brushed off Peres’ leg before continuing on into center field.
“I was looking for the no-hitter, but the last inning they got a good hit. I maybe should’ve got it,” Peres said. “You have to move on and get the next hitter. You have to look forward to make your next best play.”
With a 6-0 lead, Peres and the Cape defense buckled down and got three straight outs with the bases loaded to preserve the shutout win.