Winter Park softball team scores spot in history

The Winter Park Wildcats felt their hearts sink at the softball field on a sunny Saturday afternoon as Vero Beach High School tagged first base to get the final out in the bottom of the seventh to end the game.

A score of 1-0 glowed in orange numbers on the scoreboard at the Wildcats’ diamond on May 3 — Vero Beach freshman Skye Collins’ single at the top of the fifth had sent junior Maddie Brister in to tag the plate for the only run of the game.

Winter Park High School sophomore Parker Conrad kept it close all game with her sound pitching, striking out nine batters and only allowing four hits.

A tough loss may not have been the result they wanted in the regional tournament semifinal matchup, but the girls in orange and white kept their heads held high.

It wasn’t long before Winter Park’s softball squad was in better spirits. Most of them were already cracking jokes or heading to the snack bar by the time the bleachers emptied out.

They knew that every swing, pitch and catch in that game was history in the making.

The Winter Park Wildcats won the district championship and punched their first ticket to the regional tournament on April 18 with a 7-0 trouncing of Timber Creek High — earning the Wildcats’ first district title for softball in the program’s history.

Parker’s pitching proved to be the difference. She kept the Wolves scoreless while Winter Park went to work at the plate. The Wildcats kept the offense coming, but their confidence reached new heights when senior Aubrey Craver hit a solo home run in the fourth inning to give the Wildcats a 4-0 lead as they played their way to victory.

“Every year I know all we wanted was that district championship,” said catcher and senior Miranda Matheny. “To actually win that was the greatest feeling I’ve felt in my life … I’ve never won something so memorable and meaningful to me before.”

A final win over Timber Creek made the school’s first district title all the more sweet. Winter Park had earned a slew of third- and fourth-place finishes, with the Wolves typically giving them the most trouble and staying right above them in the standings.

They’d come close to the title in the past. In 2006, they finished second in districts and earned a ticket to regionals, but then came up short in the first round.

Coach Johnny Miller has watched the school’s sports teams have their ups and downs for 34 years, but the Wildcat softball team’s journey to becoming an acknowledged sport has been an ongoing uphill climb, he said.

The Florida High School Athletic Association didn’t recognize the school’s softball program as a sport when Miller graduated from Winter Park in 1975.

Winter Park softball wasn’t recognized until 1980, when they transitioned to slow-pitch. They brought back fast pitch by the mid-’90s, allowing for more opportunities for Wildcats to earn softball scholarships for college.

Miller said that softball has also taken a backseat to other Winter Park sports such as football, track and basketball, which has built a strong reputation in recent years with three state championships since the 2009-2010 season.

He hopes the team’s recent run will bring more people out to the games and promote the sport.

“These high school kids are role models for the little kids, seeing how they practice and enjoy themselves and how they compete,” Miller said. “I think if anything positive is going to come out of us doing this, it’s that. More kids are going to want to be a part of playing softball.”

Miller’s daughter Hannah played softball at Winter Park until she graduated in 2010. She said she sees far more support for the team now than back then.

“When I went there, I feel like we were building up the program and just getting more girls excited about it,” she said. “Seeing these girls work so hard and so excited about the game, that’s going to make Winter Park a bigger school to reckon with when it comes to sports and athletics.”

“I just think it’s an awesome thing not only for them, but for the program as a whole.”

Winter Park went on to defeat Centennial High School out of Port St. Lucie in the regional quarterfinals, closing out a 12-4 win and moving to the next round where they fell to Vero in the deepest regional run in program history.

The Wildcats may have fallen in the semifinals, but Miller said the team should be proud of all the work they put in to get as far as they did. He said the historic run could push the younger players farther as well.

“They’ve accomplished so much,” Miller said. “It’s nothing to hang their head down, that’s for sure.”

“Once you see it happen, then you have to hope, ‘God, I hope I do that in our senior year,’” he said.

It was a season Craver will never forget.

“You can’t complain when your team makes history,” she said. “We brought home the hardware and we got our name in the history books.”