STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

Related Links

• FHSAA official softball site

More Naples High School

• Olympic Swimming Trials: Naples' Sullivan boosted by qualifying
• Baseball: Locals update
• Football: Naples High's Alajajian commits to Gators

Share and Enjoy [?]

The Naples High softball team is well-prepared for Friday's state semifinal, the program's first such trip since 2004.

They're also well-rested.

"Sometimes you need that little break," said coach Robert Iamurri, whose Golden Eagles (26-3) will have had a 10-day layoff by the time they face Groveland- South Lake (21-5) in Class 4A's Final Four in Plant City. "Friday's game will tell, but if we went full-out last week, you're gonna flatten out and almost be bored by Thursday. We've had a hard schedule, and this was a chance to regenerate a little."

Before resuming Monday's daily practice schedule, Naples had taken three of the previous five days off, including the afternoon following the team's 4-2 win at defending state champion Lake Wales in the regional final.

The team had a regular workout last Thursday, then a loose hitting contest of sorts for an hour at Cambier Park the following afternoon.

"It's a shorter fence than ours," Iamurri said, "and we just worked on driving the ball to the fence. I put them in two teams, and you get so many points for a ground ball, so many points if you line drive, hit the fence or if you hit it out. We just wanted to work on driving the ball, putting it in play. We backed it down to where you're doing something, but not intense."

The coach, who has a 62-10 postseason record and a state-record nine championships to his credit, said he doesn't think the tapered emotions will affect his team. In fact, he said they may have doomed his club last year, when Naples knocked off five-time defending champ Bartow and then lost a 1-0 heartbreaker at Lake Wales three nights later.

"We got real emotional, which you have to do after beating Bartow, and we never had that calm-down effect," Iamurri said. "I think that playing Palmetto Ridge (in the quarterfinals) was at least a known for us. We'd played them three times and knew what we had to do. When it's an unknown, like if it was Riverdale or Lake Wales, there's more anxiety. That carries on after a game, and this year it worked to our benefit."

The Golden Eagles will face a South Lake team making just its second appearance in the state semifinals, having earned the trip with a 1-0 win over Green Cove Springs- Clay in their regional final last week.

The winner of Friday's 5 p.m. game will face the Baker County-Pembroke Pines Charter winner in the state championship on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Iamurri, for one, said this mini-break only helps his club's cause.

"We didn't want to drag it on," he said of the preparations. "There's no use getting over-intense a week ahead or too zoned in. We obviously went over what South Lake does, but this week, we'll start getting back into it."