Melbourne softball wins the Class 6A state championship, 1-0 over Doral Academy
Melbourne softball completed its dream season after defeating Doral Academy in the Class 6A state championship, 1-0, on Saturday.
Like their state semifinal game, the Bulldogs only needed one run to win it all.
After five scoreless innings, Melbourne put the pressure on the Firebirds when Hailey Turner hit a triple in the top of the sixth inning.
Sofia Valcourt hit a sacrifice fly to bring Turner home for what went on to be the game winning run.
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"We just needed to get the one run for our ace, Jazzy Francik, and I knew that somebody would step up," Melbourne head coach Dan Edel said. "The beast Hailey Turner, what can you say about that kid. This is the third game she has given us the run."
Earlier in the game, Doral Academy had a chance to get on the board with two runners on base, but the Firebirds could not get around Francik and the Melbourne defense.
Francik closed the season with another shutout win and finished the game with 11 strikeouts.
In the playoffs, The Bulldogs did not concede a run behind the arms of Francik and Kylah Berry.
"We have great pitching with Jazzy and Kylah. They carried our team to make us get this far," Turner said. "And last season we came so far and it ended, so it's just really exciting for the whole team to get this."
With this state championship, the Bulldogs closed out their most successful season since 2014, when they fell in the state semifinal. Melbourne won a state championship in 1980 in slow pitch softball.
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"The class that came before them in 2014, we fell short. Now we have brought it home," Edel said. "I told them one team, one goal, and if we did that, everything else would take care itself."
Valcourt, who is a senior, said she wanted to leave high school with this accomplishment while encouraging the underclassmen to continue in this direction.
"I think the underclassmen had such a big part this year that they know that they want to do the same thing next year," Valcourt said. "It was not just a senior game or an underclassmen game; it was a team thing."
Along with the Class 6A championship, Melbourne won the District 11-6A championship and finished with a record of 26-2-1.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Melbourne High softball wins Florida state championship
