LONGWOOD – The Evangelical Christian School softball team is one win away from bringing home a state championship to Fort Myers for the second year in a row.

On a sweltering afternoon – game time temperature was 95 degrees – ECS  cruised to a 13-0 win against Tallahassee’s North Florida Christian School in a Class 1A state semifinal May 20 at Boombah Soldiers Creek Park in Longwood, about 15 miles north of downtown Orlando.

ECS will face Geneva in the 1A championship game at 4:30 p.m. May 21 at Boombah.  

Seminole Tribe of Florida tribal members Hadyn Billie, Paizley Billie, Paiton Billie, Angelina Yzaguirre and Riley Yzaguirre contributed to ECS’s victory, which ended after four and a-half innings due to the 10-run rule. Hadyn Billie, a junior pitcher, tossed a two-hitter with three strikeouts in a complete game. She allowed only a single in the third and a double in the fifth. Her sisters Paizley (one hit, one RBI, two runs scored) and Paiton (RBI triple, walk, run scored) provided sparks at the plate. Paizley sprinted all the way around the bases when her squibber to third was thrown into right field. Angelina Yzaguirre had a walk and a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt. She also made two catches in left field. Riley Yzaguirre scored a run as a courtesy runner.

A key inning for ECS came in the second when a determined Samantha Yzaguirre won a gritty battle leading off the inning. She fell behind 0-2 in the count and fouled off four pitches in a row before her hard work paid off with a triple to left field. One out later, Paizley Billie, down 0-2 in the count, did her job by bringing home Yzaguirre on a groundout to make it 2-0.

Whether it was solidly hit extra base hits or small ball execution, ECS cheered for both with equal enthusiasm.

“It’s the little things like that, getting a bunt down in a key situation; hitting a right-side ground ball to let a run score, sacrificing your out for the greater good of the team; it’s stuff we preach the entire season and when they do it, they celebrate it. I’m thankful for the fact that they identify the little things mean as much as the big things,” said ECS coach Johnny Manetta.

ECS put the game away with an eight-run fourth inning that featured a successful suicide squeeze by Taylor Davison, who had an impressive day with three hits and three RBIs in three at-bats.

ECS also received strong defensive plays, including a tough running catch by right fielder Anayeli Guzman in shallow right which prevented two runners from scoring.

Last year, ECS won the 2A championship. Not only is the team in a different class this year, but it also features some different players and notably no seniors. Despite its youth, ECS upped its record to 27-3 with the semifinal victory.

“Early in the game, I think there was a little bit of nerves on both sides, so the little things of just putting a ball in play in a key situation was big because at that point it was still a tight game. When you can build momentum the way we did, it kind of settles the nerves a little bit,” Manetta said.

(Hadyn Billie’s first name was incorrectly spelled in the original version of this story).