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Youth softball: Naples Braves crush Lehigh for Section 6 title
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FORT MYERS Rain forced the Naples Braves to reschedule their game against the Lehigh All-Stars twice over the past two days, but a little bit of water wasn't going to stop the junior softball team from winning its second consecutive Section 6 championship under Jeff Stepanovich.
The Braves earned a trip to the state tournament on Friday in Viera/Suntree with their win against on Sunday night, 14-0 over Lehigh after beating DeSoto on Saturday 17-0 at Sam Fleishman Park. The back-to-back shutouts come after Naples didn't even play in a district tournament.
Naples scored 11 of its runs in the bottom of the first inning, nearly going through its entire batting order twice.
Andreena Heineck led off with a bunt single and after Katie Raile walked and stole second, Heineck came home on a wild pitch to score the Braves' first run. Raile came home when Lexi Corrente found herself in a run-down and was tagged out at first.
After Lehigh had coaxed Naples into getting those two outs, the Braves let loose, scoring nine more due in large part to an Andrea Tanguma two-run double that was immediately followed by another double by Raile.
"Our expectations are always the same, and you have to be great to win games at this level," Stepanovich said. "Our pitching was nice tonight. Taylor Gunnlaugson is new to the team and we're going to need her in states to burn some innings for us."
Gunnlaugson entered the game in relief of Sabrina Brett in the third inning, but it wasn't as though Brett needed it – in two innings of work only one Lehigh batter reached safely. Gunnlaugson looked strong, though, striking out four of the seven batters she faced. Raile, in a half inning of work, struck out two of the three batters she saw.
"My girls have never been in this position before and this is the farthest any Lehigh team has been," said Lehigh manager Frank Suanez said. "I'm proud of my girls, but I think they were nervous. Most of them are coming back next season so now they'll know what to expect."
Although the rain that flooded Deleon Street when the game had been originally scheduled at noon had since drained, the outfield had the feel of a sponge absorbed past its limits when the teams reconvened at 7 p.m. The conditions weren't a problem for Naples, which didn't see a ball find its way out of the infield all night, but Lehigh had a hard time handling several fly balls throughout the game.
Now Naples will travel across the state to take on Section 4 winner Bloomingdale, a team that the Braves know well, but are optimistic they can handle.
"We've played them a lot at this level and they are just coming off a couple of down years, but a few of their teams made it to state tournaments this year," Stepanovich said.





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