Softball team hits final stretch in middle of playoff race

The Eastern Florida State College softball team heads into the final stretch of the season in third place in the Citrus Conference.

The Titans have won 10 of the last 12 games and have four doubleheaders remaining in the regular season. The standings are tight as just one game separates third to seventh with the top six teams making the postseason. Eastern Florida State College is ranked 17th in the latest NJCAA Division I poll.

Head coach Andrew Zeger has the team playing as well as anyone in the conference in the month of April as the team has reached 30 wins for the second straight season.

"The girls have come out the second half of the conference schedule and started to play our brand of softball and show who we are," Zeger said. "Doing the little things we need to do to win, I feel like they are confident and playing how we expect them to."

Sophomores Ashley Corazzini, Alanna O'Brien, Kayla Fanning, Ashley Grieser and Luci Walters have all been strong contributors to the Titans surge to get into the FCSAA Division I/NJCAA South Atlantic District Championships for the second straight year.

"The sophomores have been great, they stuck around and wanted to be Titans and show how good we could be," Zeger said. "Them coming back has been huge, they show the freshmen how things should be done and giving 100 percent every day. It is huge to have those players there every day."

Freshman Avery Velazquez is in the top five of the FCSAA in wins, strikeouts and ERA this season. The Ocoee native has 20 wins and has a 1.17 ERA in 33 appearances. She has struck out 141 in 179 innings. She is also tied for the state lead in saves with four.

At the plate, Velazquez is hitting .419 in 50 games with 19 doubles and six home runs with 55 runs batted in. The 55 RBI is second in the FCSAA.

Eastern Florida State College will be on the road all week, travelling to Polk State College on Tuesday evening and then to No. 2 Florida Southwestern State College on Saturday.  They will host Indian River State College on Monday for a doubleheader beginning at 4 p.m. at Titan Softball Complex.

"This week is huge, having Polk, FSW, River and then finishing with HCC. We need to go out and keep this stride going," Zeger said. "This is what we live for, I really hope the players are thinking that too. We have to finish strong and get the good seed in the postseason. These are the games you want to be a part of and this is the fun of being a player or coach, everything is in front of us. That is great."