By: Matt Rothman

The Coral Springs Charter softball team is not used to losing. They have only lost eight games since 2016 and one of those happened on Monday night against Cooper City High School.

However, they didn’t let it get them down for long. The reigning five-time State Champions responded with a 7-1 win over St. Thomas Aquinas High School.

“We usually have a game early in the year that catches our attention,” said Head Coach Mark Montimurro. “Cooper City reminded us that we can’t just show up and expect to win just because we have Coral Springs Charter on our uniform top.”

In their game on Wednesday, the Panthers were held off the board in the first inning but scored all seven of their runs in the second  to beat a school that made the Regional Finals last season.

Taylor Golden led off the second inning with a triple for the first of two hits in the frame before Kiara Miekle singled home for the first run of the game.

Vicki Vazquez then laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt, which resulted in a run on an error and Brianna Godfrey singled home a run.  The Panthers then scored three more runs later in the inning highlighted by a steal of home from freshman Isabella Bertorelli.

St. Thomas Aquinas scored their lone run in the fourth inning off Godfrey, who exited the circle for Alina Varga after four strong innings.

CSC’s defense was on display as well as Kayla Gonzalez made a diving catch in right field before Varga ended the fifth with another pop out. Freshman Jesyne Espipnal struck out the side in the seventh as the Panthers won their sixth game of the season.

Up next, the Panthers will remain at home for their matchup with South Plantation High School. They come in with a record of 5-3 but lost 5-1 last year in the Big 8 Quarterfinals to CSC.