Two years ago, then-sophomore Tyrina Jones led Park Vista to the program’s first softball state title. Now a senior, Jones had to sit out the Cobras’ return to the state tournament because of an injury.
In the pitcher’s circle was a new sophomore: Chloe Fariello. She had pitched well in lieu of Jones all season, and Jones gave her advice before the game.
“She told me that I just needed to keep my cool,” Fariello said. “It’s myself on the mound and I need to do great things out there.”
Fariello listened, overcoming a three-run first inning to get the victory as Park Vista beat Orange City University 4-3 in the Class 7A state semifinals in Clermont on Friday.
“You certainly don’t script it that way,” Cobras coach Joe DellaRocca said. “But we’ve told our girls all season long that I just hope that all that we do every day at practice, day in and day out, we’re prepared as best as possible for whatever scenario comes our way.”
Park Vista entered the game with 47 consecutive wins, while University had won all 25 of its games this season. The Titans got to Fariello early. The Park Vista sophomore walked University leadoff hitter Aminah Vega and gave up an RBI double to the next hitter, Zoe Hines. She hit two batters and walked another, and two more runs scored on sacrifice flies.
“It was nerves, but I had to take a moment to myself and I had to regroup,” Fariello said. “I know what I’m doing. I’ve been pitching for so long … I know how to pitch. It’s just another batter.”
But Fariello got out of the inning with no further damage, and Park Vista started chipping away. Junior Ilianna Hernandez singled, stole two bases and scored the team’s first run on an error in the first inning. In the second, catcher Kelsey Ganci singled, and sophomore Kaitlyn Dean replaced her on the bases, stole a base and scored on an error.
“We actually were playing for one run in the first and [I] said that again: ‘Let’s just chip away. Let’s not try to make this mountain something that we’re going to try to climb back out of in the first inning,'” DellaRocca said. “We were able to use the entire game to settle down and chip away.”
Fariello and University pitcher Grace Taylor kept their opponents off the board for the next two innings, but Park Vista completed the comeback in the fifth inning. Right fielder Emily Konz drew a two-out walk, and freshman second baseman Haley Vassalotti drove her in with a line-drive double to tie the game.
“I just went up there with a fresh mind, knowing that I just need to get my job done and score this run,” Vassalotti said.
Hernandez was up next, and she singled between second and third base. Although Vega, the University shortstop, fielded the ball and threw home, Hernandez drew the catcher’s attention by breaking for second, allowing Vassalotti to score the go-ahead run.
University put two runners on in the top of the sixth — including the tying run at third base — but Ganci threw Vega out at second to end the threat, and Fariello pitched a clean seventh inning to close out the game.
Park Vista, which won the 2019 Class 9A state championship, will look to defend their last title against the winner of the Miami Palmetto-Bradenton Lakewood Ranch game at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.
“We’ve faced a lot of good teams throughout the year and a lot of adverse situations throughout the season,” DellaRocca said. “So, hopefully, that experience will … continue to help us.”
