Junior All-Star team remains confident, not cocky

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YUNET JOMOLCA Cape Coral Junior All-Star Myranda Reed (right) slides home for a run in Cape’s 6-0 win over Georgia Saturday in the Southeast Regional Softball Tournament. Cape won the pool play opener and faces North Carolina Monday at 5 p.m.

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YUNET JOMOLCA Cape Coral Junior All-Star third baseman Jessica Nuccio (right) applies the tag for the final out of the third inning Saturday. Cape defeated Columbus, Ga. 6-0 in the first pool play game in the Southeast Regional Softball Tournament at Fleishman Park.

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YUNET JOMOLCA Cape Coral Junior All-Star first baseman Emily England hangs onto the ball during Saturday’s victory over Georgia.

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As the host district team, the Cape Coral Softball Junior All-Star team doesn’t have to travel very far to compete in the Southeast Regional Tournament at Fort Myers American Little League’s Fleishman Park.

They are hoping a longer trip is part of their postseason plans.

Cape needs a victory over North Carolina Monday to secure a spot in Tuesday’s semifinals, which would leave them two wins shy of clinching a berth in the Junior League Softball World Series in Kirkland, Wash., near Seattle.

There were a lot of positives in Cape’s 6-0 win over Georgia Saturday, but the team realizes they must guard against being overconfident after one game.

“It was pretty exciting,” said Katie Grubb, who contributed four hits, four stolen bases and three runs scored, “but you don’t want to let it get to your head.”

Cape spent many hours practicing and getting ready for the Southeast Regional. The team was selected in mid-June and in addition to holding practices, they played in several travel tournaments.

In Saturday’s win, Cape looked sharp in several phases of the game.

Starter Maddy Peres tossed a complete-game, one-hitter on the mound. There were several key defensive plays and no errors, and the offense produced 11 hits.

Cape also excelled at bunting and running the bases.

“We came out and hit the ball and all of our little stuff was working,” Cape manager Bob Nuccio said. “We caught them off guard a couple times.”

Cape had an off day Sunday and had a chance to watch North Carolina play Georgia, the two other teams in the same pool. North Carolina, like Georgia, arrived at the Southeast Regional with state championship credentials.

The Cape players are making it a point to show up with the same mental focus they had for the opener on Saturday, hoping that leads to a similar level of execution.

“We’re not really cocky people,” said Jessica Nuccio, who is coming off a 3-for-4 performance at the plate. “We practiced hard everyday, for I don’t know how long. We have confidence and it’s totally different than thinking we’re going to blow (the other teams) away.”