Whether it’s baseball or softball, Marathon High School pitchers have sent a clear message to opponents in 2023: Don’t challenge them on the mound.
The Dolphins traveled to Pace on March 13, winning 13-0. Junior pitcher Allison Garcia faced 17 batters, striking out nine over five innings in the no-hitter. She then matched her defensive performance in the batter’s box, registering three of the Fins’ 14 hits with a pair of triples and a double. Maeve Merryman had three hits; Dani Perdomo, Elianys Roque and Madelyn Thornton were good for two each; and Elena Eubank and Daniella Gonzalez each had one hit in the game. The Lady Fins will square off against Pace again after spring break, this time at home on Tuesday, March 28, then head to Davie the following day to face the Titans of Nova High School.
The Lady Conchs made quite the splash at the Orange Bowl Fastpitch Classic, going undefeated at the tourney. On March 17, the Conchs faced the Hawks of Lake Minneola early in the day, winning 9-4. Nevaeh Arnold lasted five innings pitching for the Conchs and Chloe Gilday closed it out. Key West poured on 13 hits with three from Caroline Smith and two each from Alexandra Rodriguez and Madelyn Perusse. Isabella Franco, Tavyn Gage, Vera Rodger, Ty Cervantes and Scarlet Niles each registered one hit for Key West. Later in the day, the Conchs played Gulf Coast High School out of Naples. In that outing, Key West piled up a whopping 15 hits. Gage had three while Franco, Cervantes and Dharma Murray each added two. The rest came from Smith, Rodriguez, Perusse, Rodger, Niles and Miesha Hernandez with one each in the 17-1 win.
The following day, the Conchs played Riverdale and Pompano Beach High School, adding two more wins to their record. Hernandez pitched six innings for the Conchs in the Riverdale game and added three hits, including a triple. Niles had three hits of her own, and Murray, Perusse and Cervantes each had two, while sophomore Alexa Condella fired off a home run in the fourth inning to make 18 total hits for Key West in the 13-3 win.
Later that afternoon, Pompano Beach met a similar fate in a 4-1 defeat as the Conchs extended their win streak to five games. Nevaeh Arnold went the full seven innings for Key West, allowing just three hits for the Tornadoes. Niles and Franco had two hits each for the Conchs and Murray, Smith, Condella and Gage added one each, making it eight for the game and a grand total of 54 for their weekend of play.
Key West will rest their bats for a week, then face Lake Wales for a pair of games Friday and Saturday, March 24 and 25.
Coral Shores split their games last week, winning 10-5 against LaSalle on March 13, then falling to Carrollton 11-1 two days later. The Lady ’Canes play again on Thursday, March 30 at Somerset South Homestead before hosting Marathon on Tuesday, April 4.
