Kayla Ortiz, John Carroll Catholic softball escape late jam to secure district championship

FORT PIERCE -- After suffering a minor injury, Kayla Ortiz returned to the circle for the John Carroll Catholic High softball team for the first time in 10 games.The rust showed.

Ortiz issued a four-pitch walk to the first batter she faced and a solo home run on a 3-0 pitch to Oxbridge Academy’s No. 3 hitter.

“That was pretty rough,” Ortiz said. “My first pitch was a ball and I was kinda not feeling right. I was just off.”

A couple of early double plays and a four-run second inning provided Ortiz confidence.

And when the Rams needed Ortiz to deliver a key pitch, the sophomore right-hander got a game-ending ground ball with the bases loaded to preserve John Carroll’s 5-3 victory over the ThunderWolves in the Class 2A-District 13 championship game Thursday afternoon.

The Rams (21-3) will be home for the regional quarterfinal Wednesday against an opponent to be determined.

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To say Ortiz got better as the game went on would be an understatement.

Holding a 5-3 lead in the seventh inning, Rams coach Rico Rosado rolled the dice with two international walks around a pinch-hit double by Oxbridge’s Ashly Nevarez in the seventh inning.

With the tying run at second base and the go-ahead run at first, Rosado elected to pitch to Elle Perrotto, who had three hits in three at-bats, including a triple.

“She was throwing strikes, and that’s all we needed,” Rosado said Ortiz. “With the bases loaded and two outs, it’s a force play everywhere. If we stayed inside and then went outside, we would get the result.”

Ortiz induced a groundout to shortstop Sophia Loreto, the only senior on the Rams, for the final out of the game.

“We didn’t hit today,” Oxbridge coach Kevin Drake said after watching his team leave 10 runners on base, half in scoring position.

Isabella Ruggiero got the ThunderWolves off to a good start, crushing a 3-0 pitch over the right-center field fence for her state-leading 16th home run of the season.

After John Carroll tied it in the bottom of the inning on a run-scoring bunt single by Ortiz, Hadley Krasulak knocked in a run in the second inning to give Oxbridge a 2-1 lead.

The Rams ended the inning by turning their second double play in as many innings, and the momentum carried over into the bottom of the second inning.

“I was trusting my defense more,” Ortiz said. “Oh my goodness, those (double plays) helped a lot. I was definitely feeling down on myself.”

“She’s still not as sharp as she was before she got injured,” Rosado said. “We rolled the dice with her too. Her pitches were good, except in that first inning when that girl hit that bomb. She looks good.”

John Carroll scored two runs on Loreto’s ball hit down the third base line, another on a wild pitch and the fourth on a RBI single by Mackenzie Mostoller turned the deficit into a 5-2 advantage.

“Reassurance for sure,” Ortiz said of the offensive outburst.

“We had whatever you want to call that ball down third base,” Drake said. “That hurt. That put them up and knocked us down a little.”

Both pitchers Ortiz and ThunderWolves freshman Taylor Priske settled down the rest of the way.

“She kept us in the game,” Drake said of Priske, who did not allow a run after the second inning.

“We wanted to keep scoring, but we couldn’t keep the ball rolling,” Rosado said. “We prepared for this by playing the tough schools.”

It was John Carroll’s first win over Oxbridge in four tries. The ThunderWolves won the district title 16-6 last year, a 5-0 shutout in the regional semifinals in 2022 when they reached the State Final 4 and 10-5 in the Jupiter Tournament in 2017.

“We came in ready,” said Ortiz, who went 3-for-3 at the plate, as did Mikale Lemons. “We wanted revenge from last time when we lost pretty bad. I’m proud.”

The Rams are ranked third in 2A-Region 4 in the FHSAA power rankings.

Ranked fifth in the FHSAA power ranking, Oxbridge (16-9) should receive an at-large bid into next week’s regional tournament.

“Unless something goes wrong, we should get in the regionals,” Drake said. “We might be here next week to play them again. You never know. My hats off to them. They played well today. I wish we played a little bit better."

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: John Carroll Catholic softball beats Oxbridge Academy for district title