Deltona Wolves softball reloads after 2-year run, expects opponents to bring 'A-plus game'

DELTONA — Deltona reached high school softball's pinnacle two springs ago, bringing home the first FHSAA title in Volusia County history, and nearly matched the feat again a year later.

Head coach Lindsay Ingram spent nearly two decades building the Wolves into a winner and now faces a new challenge: maintaining championship pedigree.

"I think it's keeping these girls honest with the little things, mastering the fundamentals rather than making the game bigger than it is," Ingram said. "(The players) know the approach they have to take in, day in and day out. When they come on this field, they know everybody is going to play their A-plus game. … Everybody is going to play their toughest against us."

So far, the Wolves have withstood most of the tests set in front of them through the opening month. Deltona sits at 6-1, outscoring opponents 80-12 with the aid of four mercy-rule results.

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Thursday's showdown with Lake Howell, though, forced the Wolves to dig deep. Tessa Guennette provided a vital insurance run with a late RBI single, and tossed a scoreless seventh inning to pick up the save in relief of CiCi Ortiz in a 6-5 victory.

"Everybody's getting their groove still," Guennette said. "This game was a good way to set the tone for the rest of the season, to know how I can and will perform."

From last year's Class 5A runner-up squad, Deltona lost its three leading hitters — Morgan Davis, Veronica Puckett and Delanie Perry — as well as pitching stalwart Katie McCaw, who piled up 389 strikeouts in 281⅓ innings and won 37 games while sporting a 1.27 career ERA.

Left-handed senior Ortiz and junior righty Guennette bring different pitching philosophies than their predecessor, but have proven effective inside the circle.

"Katie shut everything down. People barely got a hit off her," Ortiz said. "I'm not a strikeout pitcher; I get ground balls and pop flies. I use more offspeeds, outside pitches that I know batters will reach for. And I know my defense has my back."

Guennette will embrace a heavier workload in the coming weeks, with Ortiz set to represent Puerto Rico at the V U-18 Women's Softball Pan American Championships in Monteria, Colombia. It will be Ortiz's first international competition, an opportunity she has dreamed about since the age of 10.

"The first time I went to Puerto Rico was when I was 15. I always wanted to try out, and we never knew when the tryouts were," Ortiz said. "This past October, they had the tryouts and I made the first (cut). I went back, played with them and they finally released the roster to go to Colombia. I was super excited."

Ingram added: "We'll miss her. We're going to hold it down for her when we go to the Kissimmee Klassic."

Deltona's hitters have swung mostly hot bats out of the gate. Four-year starter Sophie Strempel recorded eight extra-base hits, including a pair of home runs with 17 RBIs in the Wolves' first five outings. The entire lineup combined to produce a .454 average entering the Lake Howell contest.

In the field, the Wolves boast a .921 fielding percentage, handling the increased volume of balls put in play from opponents.

According to MaxPreps, Deltona sits No. 13 in the Class 5A rankings but its schedule ramps up through the beginning of April, starting with an intriguing matchup against Lake Mary on Wednesday night.

"We've been there the last two years, so (the girls) know they have to live up to the hype," Ingram said.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: High school softball: New-look Deltona ready for another FHSAA run