By the laws of natural progression, this should be a very good week for the Evangelical Christian School softball program.
This marks the third straight season the Sentinels have reached the Class 2A state semifinal as they will face Academy at the Lakes on Tuesday at 11 a.m. in Clermont.
In 2021, under interim coach Steve Magner, the Sentinels went 21-5 and lost to eventual state champion St. Pete Canterbury in the regional final. A couple of weeks after that loss, Johnny Manetta, who had led the Fort Myers softball team to the Class 5A state title, his second in 11 years with the Green Wave, announced he would be taking over as Sentinels coach.
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ECS went 21-7 in 2022, winning the program's first regional title and reaching the state semifinals for the first time where it lost to eventual state champion First Academy 3-0. The Sentinels made their first state title game last season, losing 3-2 to University Christian and finishing with a 22-6-1 record.
So that leaves one last step for ECS.
"Two years ago, lost in the semis. Last year, lost in the state finals. I think there's a theme there and the only thing left to do is to win it this year," Manetta said. "And I believe we have the team, I think we have the experience now. I think last year, we had four starting eighth-graders. Those kids are now ninth-graders, which doesn't sound like a big deal. But they've been playing here since they were in the sixth grade. So they've been playing varsity sports now this is their fourth year. Technically, they should be seniors, but they're freshmen. So they're not going to get overwhelmed."
It's easy to feel confident when your best player is in the pitcher's circle.
Zoe Yzaguirre will be finishing her sixth and final varsity season this week with the Sentinels. She's making it a good one. She owns a 1.36 ERA with 212 strikeouts over 113 innings, allowing just 22 runs, 62 hits, and 10 walks. Last season Yzaguirre had a 1.11 ERA with 190 strikeouts with 25 walks over 119.2 innings and allowed just 28 runs, 19 earned.
"It breeds confidence to everybody knowing that she's gonna go out there and you know, she's not going to implode, she's not going to be overwhelmed in the situation, she's just gonna go out there and do her job," Manetta said. "Is she going to be perfect at all times, no. They may get a hit or two here and there. But, you know, we are challenging the other team to go out there and string together three or four hits to score multiple runs. One run doesn't kill anybody, but for anybody to go out there and try to string together three, four or five hits against her, it's very difficult. So it gives the whole team confidence, just having her out there knowing that she's going to keep things to a minimum, and it's going to allow us to get back in the dugout, get on offense."
Yzaguirre did not want to call herself a leader, she's just focused on putting her team in the best position to win.
"Having a pitcher who can take control over the field and make you feel like even if you make a mistake that it's easy to move on from can really keep the nerves settled and it just gives everyone a clear mind to continue playing their best," Yzaguirre said.
The Sentinels, the Class 2A No. 1 seed, have been playing their best all season, compiling a 26-2 record with 14 shutouts on the season, and have only allowed one run in their last six games. ECS has outscored its opponents 255-31 overall with a team batting average of .413.
Makayla Jakubuwski has batted .505 and leads the Sentinels with 46 hits, 11 doubles, eight triples, 38 RBI and 36 runs scored. Jakubuwski won a state title her freshman year with Fort Myers High and has been with ECS for the last three years and has played a big part in the program's progression to state title contenders. The senior would like to bookend her high school career with gold medals.
"It's definitely an experience, especially because every time I've had a different outcome so this time I have to repeat one and I hope I repeat holding up the trophy," Jakubuwski said.
"I don't know if we really need to do anything different," she added. "I mean, last year, we put in the hard work and we were there. It was just that last play. I just think the little things we need to stay sharp on and, just hopefully we can pull it out this year."
Academy at the Lakes enters the Final Four with a 19-11 record. The Wildcats won back-to-back state titles in 2018 and '19 but have not moved past the regional semifinal round since. They sport a team ERA of 3.08, and senior Shannon Kendall has been effective in Lake's three regional wins, striking out 27 while allowing only one earned run.
If ECS picks up a semifinal win there's a strong possibility of a rematch with University Christian, which plays John Carroll (24-6) at 1 p.m. Tuesday in the other semifinal. Much like the Sentinels, the Christians (18-7) have a dominant pitcher in Sophia Kardatzke (17-5, 1.57 ERA, 195 K, 56 BB) who is also the team's most dominant hitter with a .667 average, 11 doubles, four triples and five home runs. University also gets offensive production from Jaleigha Harris (.338, 7 2B, 5 HR, 33 RBI), Kate Dell'Alba (.373, 6 2B, 5 HR, 28 RBI) and junior Kylie Shannon (.353, 5 2B, 24 RBI).
"It really doesn't matter who we play," Manetta said. "They're gonna go out there and play hard and play for each other. And you know we're gonna get a great effort in the circle, we're gonna get a great effort offensively and who knows, once you're in the finals, anything can happen."
As for Manetta, a third state title would put him in rare air as the only Lee County coach to win with two different programs and would also tie him for second most in Southwest Florida history with former Barron Collier coach John Palmitano. But the coach said he is not thinking about himself when it comes to winning a title.
"I want it for ECS. I want it for the kids. I want it for the seniors. These kids that have busted their butt," Manetta said. "I'm just kind of the maestro that pulls the strings, but it's all on them. If they want to go out there and win a state championship they got to just focus for a couple more games, put forth a great effort and I'm pretty sure that they're focused enough to do that. We've been crossing off things on our bucket list this year and we have one check mark left."
IF YOU GO
What:Class 2A State Semifinal, ECS (26-2) vs. Academy at the Lakes (19-11)
Where:Legends Way Ballfields, Clermont
When:Tuesday, 11 a.m.
Watch on the Web: NFHS Network
Tickets:$14 per day if purchased in advancevia GoFan, and $17 if purchased day of
Parking:$3 cost of parking included in each ticket
