Plant takes down Steinbrenner to advance to Class 7A, Region 2 final

The Panthers notched their 17th win in a row

TAMPA, FLORIDA- It's a busy time at Plant High School when the end of the school year comes around. 

The baseball, softball and football programs all have games this week at home and making deep runs into the postseason is an expectation for Panthers' athletics. 

Riding a 16-game winning streak heading into Tuesday afternoon's Class 7A, Region 2 semifinal versus Steinbrenner, Plant needed one of its best performances to pull off No. 17 in a row. The Panthers got a strong pitching performance from junior Cassidy Masters en route to a 5-3 win over the Warriors. 

With the victory, Plant moves onto the region finals for the first time since 2008.

“Very exciting,” Plant head coach Lauren Castellvi Donahue said about her team moving onto the region finals. “These girls are locked in. They’re ready for anything anybody can throw at us. They’re ready to go no matter what.”

The Warriors didn't waste too much time finding themselves up on the scoreboard as Arizona commitment Lily Holtje belted a 2-run shot to put Steinbrenner ahead 2-0. Plant answered back in the bottom end of the fram with two runs of its own to tie things up heading into the second. 

Steinbrenner's Rachel Fine lined a triple down the right field line and set up a perfect scoring opportunity for the Warriors. Holtje up to bat, the Panthers (25-4) went ahead and walked her, setting up two runners on base with one out. Fine would later score on a sacrifice fly by Paige Bergen, giving Steinbrenner a 3-2 edge. 

Both pitchers looked to be in the zone after the first inning. Freshman Lilly Patton seemed to be in control against the Plant lineup until the bottom of the fifth came around. Abby Lucas reached on an error, setting her up to become the go-ahead run in the inning. 

Plant senior Gracie Ciccarello doubled home Lucas and gave the Panthers a narrow 4-3 lead after five frames. It would come down to the right arm of Masters and she would deliver in the final few innings. The Panthers added a little bit of insurance in the bottom of the sixth inning when freshman Kate Compton scored on a single by junior Addison Swink, giving Plant a 5-3 advantage.  

Steinbrenner (19-8-1) wouldn't be able to get anything going in the top end of the seventh, sending Plant to the region final for the first time since losing to Venice 1-0 nearly 15 years ago. The Panthers were able to avenge a pair of losses to the Warriors from the regular season. 

“Nobody is going to do anything that’s going to stop us right now,” Castellvi Donahue added. “The last few games, whomever we have played has come out and scored a run and we’ve answered back every time. We get our momentum back and we’re ready to roll.”

Andy Villamarzo can be reached at andyvillamarzo@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @Andy_Villamarzo.