Doral Academy wins 6A softball state title 1-0 over defending champion Pace

Villazon pitches one-hit shutout for the championship win

Doral Academy softball players celebrate after being awarded the FHSAA Class 6A state championship trophy on Saturday at Solider’s Creek Park. / Bill Kemp

LONGWOOD – Doral Academy is back on top again.

Doral won its second softball state championship in program history on Saturday after taking down defending state champions Pace, 1-0, in the FHSAA Class 6A title game.

“It’s been six years since we won a state title. We were long overdue,” Doral coach Willie Viruet said. “The community, the school, well, I  think we deserved it.”

Firebirds senior pitcher Meagan Villazon was the hero, going the distance and firing a one-hit shutout in the torrid heat at Solider’s Creek Park. She struck out seven and walked five while never letting Pace gather any offensive momentum.

Not only did Viilazon hold Pace (24-4) to a lone single by Kymryn Pierce in the top of the sixth, but she quickly squashed any ideas of a late-game rally when she got the next hitter Britten Kettler to bounce into a 1-6-3 double play to clear the bases.

“(Villazon) was amazing and yet I think she was off at times,” Viruet said. “But she was able to battle through it. It was hot and she had to battle. That 1-6-3 double play, that was the backbreaker. We practice that every day and that is probably the second time we were able to make it happen.”

Villazon, who is signed with Florida International, said she wasn’t really thinking about a no-hitter when it was broken up. Her mind was on getting the shutout and the win.

“I didn’t even realize I had a no-hitter, because obviously I wasn’t perfect. I had a few walks,”  she said. “I just knew the job wasn’t done until the final out was made. That one hit wasn’t going to affect me and my defense had my back no matter what.

“We’ve been working so hard and we wanted this so bad. I am so proud of us,” Villazon said. “I got a lot of popups.I was throwing a lot of curveballs and most of them worked.”

Doral (31-1), which won its first state championship in 2021, also a 6A crown, ended Pace’s state championship game scoreless-inning streak at 11 when Ashley Tremont trotted home from third with the winning run following a bases-loaded walk to Villazon with two outs in the fifth inning. Pace had shut out perennial powerhouse Bartow 2-0 in last year’s state title game to start the streak.

“I was really excited,” Tremont said about stomping on home plate with the game’s only run. “It really feels amazing.”

Hannah DeMarcus went the distance for Pace. She went six innings, giving up one run one one hit and two walks. She struck out 12. 

“We knew (DeMarcus) was going to be tough,” Viruet said. “They’ve had great pitching and we knew what we were getting into because she strikes out a lot of people. She has great movement on the curve and her fastball. We knew if we could put the ball in play, we had a chance to make something happen.”