Dr. Phillips Little League 10U softball books trip to state tournament

Apparently, winning Dr. Phillips Little League's first softball district title since 2006 wasn't the only accomplishment the Minors (10U) All-Star team had on its agenda. 

The girls from Dr. Phillips swept through the competition this past weekend at the Section 5 Tournament, hosted by St. Cloud Little League, earning a berth in this coming weekend's state tournament in DeLand.

Though records for Florida District 14 (in which DPLL competes) go back only to 2004, this is believe to possibly be the first time a softball team from DPLL has advanced to state.

For Dr. Phillips, the Section 5 Tournament started off ominiously July 8 as the team trailed Apopka 6-2 through two innings of the first game. A weather delay suspended play until the next morning, when DP turned the tables and outscored Apopka 14-0 the rest of the way to win 16-6 in four innings.

"The team that showed up Friday night was a completely different team Saturday morning," manager Jes Willis said. "Saturday morning rolled around and it was the group of girls we knew we had."

After defeating Apopka, Dr. Phillips went on to defeat Union Park 18-1 later that afternoon. That victory set up a winner-takes-all meeting July 10 against host St. Cloud, which also went 2-0 in its first two games. A six-run second inning proved to be the difference as DP again won in a mercy-rule-shortened contest, 11-0.

Starting with the third inning of the game against Apopka, the girls from Dr. Phillips outscored their opponents 43-1 in just 10 innings of play.

Now, they will get to play in the state tournament this weekend in DeLand. DP will begin play July 15 at 4 p.m. 

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Contact Steven Ryzewski at [email protected].