Playoff softball: Park Vista takes care of Miami-Coral Reef to reach region championship

One year ago, Park Vista High's softball team left the field in tears after a crushing playoff loss to Miami-Coral Reef.

On Tuesday night, the Cobras and Barracudas faced off again in a Region 4-7A semifinal game. Same teams, same setting, much different result.

Senior Nicole Mergen , backed by an airtight defense, pitched a two-hitter to lead Park Vista one step closer to the state final four with an 8-1 victory over visiting Coral Reef. The second-seeded Cobras (18-6) will face top-seeded Western (24-4-1) for the regional title Friday in Davie, with a trip to Clermont on the line.

"Having it end on our own field sucked," Mergen said of last year's game, which Coral Reef won on a seventh-inning grand slam. "Being able to come back and beat them this year just means a lot for us as a team and for me as a senior, knowing that we can still keep going."

Mergen had only two strikeouts but shut down a potent lineup that featured five regulars batting over .400. After giving up a leadoff single that led to the Barracudas' only run, she allowed only three other runners — on an error, a walk and a bunt single. Two were erased by double plays started by shortstop Isabella Golas.

Mergen said the Cobras' defense has been the difference in the regional, which started with a 1-0 quarterfinal victory over Parkland-Stoneman Douglas.

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"For me as a pitcher, it means a lot for my defense to make those plays and give 100% and lay their bodies out on this field," she said. "I haven't been going for strikeouts as much and I've been trusting my defense and it's been working. ... We were struggling earlier in the season, but now we're playing Park Vista softball."

While Park Vista was making plays, Coral Reef was botching them all night. Two throwing errors led to three Cobra runs in the bottom of the first inning, setting the tone early.

Assistant coach George Ortiz said the Cobras' game plan was to be aggressive on the bases and force the Barracudas into mistakes. He was running the team in the absence of his twin brother, head coach Lou Ortiz, who was serving a suspension after being ejected in the quarterfinal game.

"We have nine girls who can run fast," George Ortiz said. "We told them to run it out, that anything can happen. We wanted to keep the pressure on them."

The strategy paid off again in the fourth inning when Park Vista pushed across three runs with the aid of a botched rundown, a throwing error and a perfectly placed squeeze bunt by sophomore Angeline Mergen, Nicole's sister.

The Cobras added two runs in the fifth on three hits, a passed ball and yet another throwing error.

Golas and Angeline Mergen each had three hits. No. 9 hitter Kaelyn Glidden, a freshman, had two hits and a walk and scored two runs.

Park Vista has had a bit of an up-and-down season, winning nine in a row at one point but struggling in the stretch, including losses to Coral Reef in the regular season and Spanish River in the District 13-7A final. Now the Cobras are one win away from returning to a familiar place — they reached states in 2019, 2021 and 2022, winning the title in 2019.

To make it back, they'll have to continue playing the kind of defense they showed Tuesday night.

"Our defense has been really good the past few games," Golas said. "I think that's what keeps you in the game. ... Those double plays were our first two of the season. It felt really good and also stopped the other team's momentum a lot."

Park Vista dropped an early-season 6-5 decision to Western, but that's merely a footnote to the regional final.

"I think we're a different team now than the last time we played them," Nicole Mergen said. "We have a lot more confidence. I think it took us a little bit to realize where we were as a team. It took the younger girls a while to realize you play for Park Vista, to have that pride, have that mentality."

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Playoff softball: Park Vista takes care of Miami-Coral Reef to reach region championship