Melbourne High School freshman pitcher Addison “Ding” Balavender threw seven shutout innings, allowing just one hit and recording 13 strikeouts in the process, as Melbourne defeated visiting Oviedo by a 2-0 score in a regional quarterfinal of the Florida High School Athletic Association’s Class 6A state softball tournament on Thursday night.
The game was a rematch of a regular season game played on April 20, where Melbourne (which improved to a 26-1 record with the win) defeated Oviedo (9-14) by a 6-1 score in a game live streamed by VSN Space Coast.
“Ding had good command of all of her pitches tonight which was a blessing,” said Melbourne head coach Chris Cottrill. “But they (Oviedo) had really game planned based on seeing her two weeks prior on exactly what their approach was and they brought a good approach but Ding was just crisp tonight and it wasn’t enough.”
Melbourne took a 1-0 lead in the first inning thanks to a sacrifice fly from junior Layna Ayala, which plated junior Madison Rider, who led off the inning with a ground ball base hit. The run was largely made possible thanks to an Oviedo throwing error that set up the Lady Bulldogs with runners at 2nd and 3rd base with no outs.
The score would remain at that point until the bottom of the third inning, when a similar situation unfolded that allowed Melbourne to tally its other run. A defensive issue led to Ayala getting a chance to hit with two runners on and she delivered, as her RBI base hit once again plated Rider after Rider hit another ground ball single earlier in the inning.
“I knew coming into this game what the pitcher was going to throw,” Rider said. “She throws hard and in and so as the leadoff batter, I just want to get base hits. Hard ground balls work.”
Oviedo’s lone offensive threat came in the bottom of the fourth inning courtesy of a one-out double, but Balavender was able to induce two flyouts to get out of the frame without allowing a run.
“We played some tight defense tonight and at the end of the day, defense can win championships so that carried us tonight,” Cottrill said. “We struggled making some adjustments at the plate. Tip our caps to (Oviedo freshman pitcher) Emma (Vreuls) and Oviedo for coming together with a good plan and they kept our hitters at bay. We had a few runners in scoring position that we left there so that’s definitely an area for improvement. But they played solid defense tonight and that’s why we’re standing where we are and we get to move on.”
“We do a lot of defense during practice,” Rider said. “I think that really pays off ‘cause our coach is very pinpoint on defense and that side of the game.”
With the win, Melbourne, the second-seed in Region 2 of the tournament, advances to the regional semifinal where they’ll host third-seeded Bloomingdale, a 9-0 winner over Viera on Thursday. That game will be broadcast live streamed on VSN Space Coast.
“Bloomingdale’s a really good team,” Cottrill said. “They went to the Final Four last year. They played Bartow really good there in the districts. I believe it was a 1-run game all the way to the end so it’s going to be championship-level softball.”