- September 9, 2024
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It’s hard to consider the Windermere Wildfire Paulson softball club an underdog or Cinderella-type team in any competition it enters.
Consider its recent accolades: 2023 AFON National Champions, back-to-back USA Softball National Champions (2021, 2022) and back-to-back-to-back PGF Florida state champions (2022, 2023, 2024).
Still, when the clock struck midnight — both figuratively and somewhat literally — on the Windermere-based organization’s fairytale-type run at the Alliance Fastpitch Championship Series Tier II National Championship, it felt as if the Wildfire were robbed of its glass slipper after Game 3 of the best-of-three series ended in the sixth inning, halting Windermere’s roaring comeback.
After a simple path through the AFCS Super Regionals and Elite Eight (winning five of five), the Wildfire’s journey in the Final Four was a much rockier road.
Despite topping VA Glory Willemssen, 7-1, in the opening match of Elite Eight bracket play, the Virginia-based softball club came back with a vengeance in the Final Four, dominating Windermere 14-0. Luckily for the Wildfire, because VA Glory came through the loser’s bracket, it had to beat Windermere twice to advance to the finals.
With all the momentum going against the Wildfire, the group of rising college freshmen and high-schoolers showed the determination their coach instilled in them.
“What we try to teach them is grit and toughness; yesterday was an example of that,” Windermere Wildfire coach George Paulson said. “That was one of my prouder moments of coaching softball. To get pummeled like that in the first game and come back fighting like we did (and) win a tight 2-1 game for a spot in the championship was incredible from our kids.”
The challenges didn’t end for the Wildfire after getting past the Virginia club. In the national championship series, Athletics Mercado put Windermere in a 1-0 hole to start the best-of-three series, after the Arizona-based club won, 8-4.
In Game 2, the Athletics nearly shut the book on the Wildfire’s quest by mounting an eight-run lead. But just as they bounced back against VA Glory in the semis, the Wildfire picked themselves up and kept the final-four run alive by clawing back from that deficit and overcoming a two-hour rain delay to beat the Athletics, 10-8, forcing a third and final game in the championship series.
Game 3 started a lot like Game 2 did for Windermere; the Athletics hit the ground running.
“They were up 10-4 or so coming into the fifth inning,” Paulson said. “We then were able to cut it to 10-8 going into the sixth inning, but we just ran out of time.”
What did Paulson mean, ran out of time? Surely, he meant it figuratively as a way to reference innings. Softball isn’t a timed game. No, he literally meant time. And in the case of the final game of this series, softball was a timed game.
All three games of the AFCS 18U Tier II National Championships series were scheduled to be held at 9 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 2:15 p.m. Sunday, July 28, at the Grand Park Sports Campus in Westfield, Indiana. However, because of multiple weather delays throughout the day, these games did not adhere to that schedule and went much later than anticipated.
This triggered a provision in the modified NFHS rules (Rule 4-2-7, 10-2-3e, h) for Alliance Fastpitch’s national events that allows the individual sports complex to make the final determination on stopping, delaying or restarting games. The pre-determined decision was to end all games in progress by a set drop-dead time.
It just so happened the proverbial clock struck midnight in the middle of Windermere’s fairytale comeback effort — ending Game 3 of the championship series in the sixth inning.
The Athletics Mercado beat the Windermere Wildfire, 10-8, to win the series 2-1.
“Time ran out on us, so it was a little disappointing to end our time with this group of seniors like that,” Paulson said. “But still, what this team did was so impressive. I have been around a lot of teams that were tough and gritty, but this one matched or exceeded any I’ve seen before. They never gave up, so it was pretty satisfying to be part of this regardless.”
Though sending off this group of seven seniors as national runners-up isn’t exactly what you’d expect to see at the end of a children’s book. It is, however, a representation of the standard of mental toughness upon which Wildfire softball is built.
That determination and never-say-die attitude — more than a trophy or a win ever could — this group showed in its last tournament and game together is a priceless way for Paulson to say goodbye.
“We’ve got seven seniors who are moving on … they’re a couple of weeks from leaving for college,” he said. “And we are just so incredibly thankful to them for upholding the standards of this program. This organization has been around since 2008 or so, and we’ve set a high standard of performance and those kids — especially the seniors — upheld that and more. ... At the end of the day, it was a sad day. Not because we lost, but because we had to say goodbye to them.”
All seven Wildfire seniors have signed to play softball at the college level: Amber Chumley, Stetson; Irianis Garcia, Stetson; Ayani Hernandez, St. Leo; Anne Long, USF; Courtney Marks, Western Carolina; Alicia Marzouka, Columbia University; and Abbey Moore, Nova Southeastern.
