Late rally: 3 takeaways from Palm Beach Gardens' win against Seminole Ridge softball

PALM BEACH GARDENS -- Both Palm Beach Gardens and Seminole Ridge had big sixth innings on Wednesday night. But thanks to Holly Frankl's RBI triple, the Gators' bottom half proved the difference-maker in the matchup between two of Palm Beach County's best.

Gardens won the contest, 3-2.

After Hailey Vassalotti singled in the top half of the sixth, Grace Rawn launched a shot into the gap to give the Hawks a narrow 2-1 lead.

RBIs by Frankl and Shea Towns helped Gardens claim even ground and then some, surpassing the visitors before Sydney Shaffer shut down the Hawks' bats in the seventh.

Here are three takeaways from Wednesday's tight game between two postseason-bound programs.

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Gators preach patience at the plate

Wednesday's win represented a far-cry from the Gators' defeat the night before.

In that game, facing lethal Jensen Beach pitcher Mallory Wheeler -- a Louisiana commit -- the Gators struck out 15 times.

Part of that was a slow start off the back of spring break, but another factor was a lack of patience at the plate, something the Gators very quickly corrected in Wednesday's win.

"You've got to make them elevate the ball a little bit," Gardens head coach Randy Jackson said. "Know the count. We don't want to have no strikes on us and hit a ground ball. We want to make them elevate the ball so we can get the ball in the air, drive the ball in the gaps like we did. And late in the game, she got the ball up and we took advantage of it."

The Gators hitters came through when it counted, with Frankl's hit being among the most important after Shea Towns helped Gardens tie it up in the sixth inning.

"We preach pitch selection every day in practice and what we're trying to look for, how we're trying to hit, and what we're trying to do with it," Jackson said.

It wasn't perfect on Wednesday, but it rarely is against a talented pitcher. What matters is that the Gators did enough to get the job done.

Rawn continuing torrid start for Hawks

There is a reason Rawn received a near-automatic bid on our hitters' watch list when we previewed the 2024 softball season.

Her sixth-inning hit nearly gave her Hawks a victory over Gardens, who took the lead on her clutch hit in the sixth inning.

It was the latest big hit for the senior, who is simply raking at the plate with a .471 batting average, leading the teams in average, hits, doubles, and home-runs.

She's been the gift that keeps on giving for Seminole Ridge coach Candace Navarro, who perhaps most succinctly put it when she said that she's going to be "a tough loss" for her.

"She's another one that can just lead our infield and you can see when she's at bat, she's going to be a tough out all the time," Navarro said. "I actually started coaching her in middle school with volleyball and couldn't wait for the day for her to step on this softball field for us."

The tears almost started flowing early for Navarro as she described the impact Rawn has had for the Hawks in her four-year career.

"Absolutely great kid," Navarro said. "Never does anything wrong. Follows the rules on and off the field. A quiet leader. Awesome family. I'll be sad to lose her. She's amazing."

Shaffer overcomes adversity to seal the deal

For a fleeting moment, it looked like Seminole Ridge were finally in the driver's seat during Wednesday's game, having found a one-run lead off some small-ball success in the top-half of the sixth.

But that was about the only bump in the road for Shaffer -- and after her Gators offense reclaimed the lead, the junior hurler wasn't about to squander it.

She finished the game with nine strikeouts, the final two coming in the last inning as she slammed the door shut on the Hawks.

"It was more my team," were the first words out of Shaffer's mouth when discussing the game. "I felt [my performance] could have been stronger for my team. They came out at the end and hit all the balls for me. But in the end, we won. And they did not score 10 runs."

The last comment is of course an exaggeration -- Shaffer has been nigh impossible to hit this season, sporting a sparkling 0.85 ERA and having allowed just four earned runs all year.

"Sydney was awesome," Jackson said. "She found the strike zone. She stayed around the plate. A couple of calls didn't go our way, but she battled through it and you win close games like that when you go out and just stick with it."