OAKLEAF - Bartram Trail High's softball coaches took the risk of putting Oakleaf High senior pitcher Charlotte "Charley" Maddox in the batter's box in a tense bottom of the seventh inning game tied at 1-1 for the region 1-6A quarterfinal round of the state playoffs Thursday at Oakleaf High School.
"I kind of think it was their only move, but it was sure risky," said Oakleaf coach Heather Han. "Charley was 0-2 for the game to that point, but her two at bats were with great field play by the Bartram Trail defense. She was hitting the ball hard, but they were making great plays and I think that was their thought process."
In that tense bottom of the seventh inning with the game tied off a double error third inning by Oakleaf scoring the Bears lone run and an error by Bartram Trail on a Ava Tolbert grounder putting Oakleaf on the board, Oakleaf senior Jaydyn Beall ripped a centerfield double to put her as the possible gamewinning run at second base before Bartram Trail intentionally walked Tolbert and Avery Garcia to load the bases with no outs and Maddox on deck.
Maddox was not thinking of the possibility of hitting a walk off grand slam to win her final home game at Oakleaf High.
"All I know is that I had two pretty good hits when I got up, but they made a diving stab on one a second base and the first was a grounder that got a good defensive play to get me out," said Maddox, who is headed to Dartmouth University in the fall. "I wasn't thinking a big hit, but just one that would disrupt their defense."
Maddox not only disrupted the defense, but her hit straight back to Bartram Trail pitcher Rommeney Patrey was easily gathered and delivered to home plate to ice Beall for the gamewinner, but it was catcher Andi Gooch's throw to first base to catch Maddox, who was at full sprint, that went awry to allow Tolbert to score the winner unchallenged.
Beall,'s seventh inning opener, a laced double into centerfield, was the catalyst for an excited Oakleaf dugout that upped the ante for the Bears' challenge.
"I was thinking about my last at bat at Oakleaf and wanted to at least make a play," said Beall, who also had two spectacular fly ball puts outs; one full horizontal and one as a sprint into shallow left field. "I believe in the old adage that if you want to be a champion player, you have to make champion plays."
Oakleaf also got two back-to-back outstanding plays in centefield from Tolber, one a diving stab.
"We've reduced our errors over the season as the girls have realized that, as the games get bigger, we can't have the errors," said Han, noting the Bartram Trail loss in March, 4-2, had eight errors while outhitting Bartram Trail 8-4. "Playoffs make a difference."
For Han, the dramatics of the win were coupled with the fact that her semifinal game would be a choice of a short trip to Neptune Beach or a long trip to Pensacola as the opposite opener was No. 8 Fletcher at No. 1 seed Pace High School (21-3) which Pace won 11-0.
"Not only is it a long trip to Pace High, but we have seniors (namely Maddox) needing to take AICE tests on the game day," said Han, who sports No. 4 seed and a 12-12 record after the win. "We are trying to make arrangements now to allow her to play the game and still get her AICE done."
Han noted that the opposite semifinal is between No. 2 Horizon (21-6) and No. 3 Navarre (14-9).
"We've learned to play tough games on the road all season and that's kind of our history," said Han, who was a region semifinalist last year on the road to Hagerty (an 11-0 loss) and a region quarterfinalist on the road, again at Hagerty (a 2-0 loss) in 2023. In 2022, Oakleaf had two home games with their No. 2 seed and wound up in the region final at No. 1 seed Lake Brantley (a 5-2 loss). "Maybe this year, we can change the outcome. We have a tough team here."