'We're going to throw everything we have:' Branford, Trenton await titanic showdown Saturday

In the late innings of Trenton softball’s state semifinals vs Holmes County, Tigers coach Clint Anderson caught onto something about Blue Devil pitcher Bri Adams.

“She throws a lot strikes, so she's trying to get ahead in the count,” Anderson said.

Therefore, with the score tied and a runner on second, Anderson instructed Brandy Dees to swing at the first pitch.

The rest? History.

Dees hit a single to center, and the Tigers prevailed over Holmes County 3-2 Friday afternoon at the Legends Way Ballfields in Class 1A semifinals.

Trenton will face Branford in the Class 1A Final. The Buccaneers defeated Liberty County 13-3 in the later 1A semifinal.

Trenton offense does just enough to back up Allaire’s dominance

The Tigers, as expected, handed the ball to freshman phenomenon Addison Allaire. The youngster admitted nerves affected her.

“I just had to regroup and go back to throwing like how I needed to throw it,” Allaire said.

Allaire said the nerves subsided after the first inning, and she entered a groove.

The freshman struck out the first nine batters of the game, but the Tiger offense only put up one run to support her.

In the fourth, Trenton’s dream of back-to-back state titles careened off the side for a moment.

Allaire acquiesced two runs, and the Blue Devils led 2-1.

The Tigers feature a high-powered offense, but they were being silenced by Adams, a West Florida commit.

Anderson told his team to act like they’re playing at Trenton’s home field, not a neutral site in Clermont.

“Sometimes they get lost in what's going on in the game, but we're down one run,” Anderson said. “I told them, we got we got four more innings of this. We got 12 More outs. We're still good.”

Trenton did manage to scratch together a run in the fifth to tie it at two as Allaire reentered her zone.

She ended the game with 18 strikeouts of 21 possible outs.

“She overpowers people. No one is going to outwork her,” Anderson said. “She's an amazing kid to coach. They don't come around every day.”

The tide began to shift towards Trenton in the bottom of the seventh. With one out and a runner on second, HC intentionally walked Allaire, who has 11 home runs on the season.

This sent up Brandy Dees, who acknowledged she felt slighted by the walk.

Allaire didn’t mind it because she knew Dees would get a hit.

“I knew we were going to get the run whether Brandy hit or not,” Allaire said.

The Tigers defeated Branford twice this season – first on the road 2-1 on April 1, and then 10 days later April 11 at home 11-7.

Allaire said her nerves should be better Saturday, and Anderson believes if the Tigers play their best, they’ll prevail and win states for the second time in four years.

It's just going to be a good game. I think they have some good hitters, and they got good pitches,” Anderson said.

Offensive explosive lifts Branford softball to easy win

When patrons from Trenton made their way to another field at Legends Way to see Branford, they were stunned by what they saw.

A 7-0 lead through two?!

Yes, indeed.

In a rematch of last season’s state title game, the Buccaneers got revenge on Liberty County with an easy 13-3 six inning win to advance to Saturday’s final.

“They wanted this,” Branford coach Oscar Saavedra said. “We've been waiting 365 days for this, and we finally got here, and we did what we had to do.”

The Bucs scored just four runs in last season’s L, but this Bucs team came out with a fire.

Jesse Frierson and Madyson Sikes each drove in runs in the first. An inning later, Branford scored two more on a costly error LC error, and Frierson fully blew it open with a line drive homer to left.

Saavedra said Frierson settles for nothing at the plate, which lends itself to success.

“She’s seeing the ball so well this season, and nothing rattles her,” he said.

The Bulldogs staged a fight as expected. They cut the lead to 7-3 in the fourth, and Saavedra instructed his team to act like the score read 0-0.

“We just stayed with it, and the girls said the same thing,” Saavedra said. “They were saying, ‘hey it's a 0-0 ball game.’ We didn't even look at the score.”

It also helped that starting pitcher Laila Arnold slayed in the circle. She calmed down after the fourth and shut down the ‘Dawgs with two straight shutout innings.

Leila throws pitches that they can't really get a hold of, and we have her back on defense and she's just amazing,” Frierson said.

The offense provided another boost with a five run fourth inning, and the game winning run in the sixth on a double by Cloey Criggall.

Saavedra said his squad needs to practice determination Saturday.

“They got to want it which they do. Pitching is going to be on point, and the bats, we just got to get them bats going against them,” he said. “I know we're facing a great pitcher.”

If Branford’s bats overpower like they did Friday, the Tigers certainly maintain more than a punchers chance.

In addition, Saavedra did follow that up by noting that the Bucs got a great pitcher in Arnold.

Frierson said that gives the team loads of confidence for Saturday.

“We can just go out there, relax, play it like any other game,” she said.

First pitch Saturday is set for 2 p.m. from Legends Way Ballfields. For those who can’t make the trip, the game will stream live on the NFHS Network.

Noah Ram covers Gainesville-area high school sports and University of Florida athletics for The Gainesville Sun. Contact him at Nram@gannett.com and follow him @Noah_ram1 on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Branford and Trenton softball win in FHSAA Class 1A state semifinals