Softball: They weren’t short on focus on way to championship

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Apparently, they play softball elsewhere around the country.

‘We just wanted to come out here and see if we could compete with the California teams,’ said Tom Fadul, the Pembroke Pines (Fla.) coach whose team won the Nike Faster to First title over the weekend. ‘California gets a lot of hype. They put this tournament together and we knew there would be some solid teams.’

I know one thing, you don’t travel all the way from Florida to lose, and Pembroke Pines didn’t. The state quarterfinalist knew what it was doing when it signed on.

After Pembroke Pines, No. 19 in the Preseason Fab 50 ranking, defeated No. 4 Sacramento Sheldon in a pitchers duel won by Lauren Sewell, Fadul said the difference that allowed his team to win the tournament was his team’s heart. Once we got past the rhetoric -- after all, I pointed out, there were hundreds of girls in that tournament who had heart and wanted it ‘as much as anyone’ -- he settled on a more practical reason: ‘Our girls stepped up when it was time to step up. It’s about execution, it’s about staying focused, making the plays and good pitch selection.’

Focus was particularly important. The title game was Pembroke Pines’ fifth in three days, against one of

the finest teams and pitchers around in Jolene Henderson, in a howling wind that created bitter cold. In the end, Pembroke Pines didn’t make the mistakes that Sheldon did in the 1-0 victory. The only difference between the winning team and the losing team was the bottom of the sixth inning, when Sheldon made two errors. And remember, the Jaguars were playing on Pacific Standard time; the 7:15 p.m. start time for the championship was 10:15 on the players’ physiological clocks.

Pembroke Pines also defeated Hart, 4-3; Belmont (Calif.) Notre Dame, 6-2; Long Beach Wilson, 9-3; El Modena, 2-0.

Fadul said he was impressed with the quality of the field, but among the squads his teams played he was particularly impressed with Hart and pitcher Destiny Rodino.

‘Every team we played was solid,’ he said. ‘We feel it was an honor to represent our city and state. But there are some good teams in Florida.’

Apparently.
-- Martin Henderson
-- Image from http://eteamz.active.com/PEMBROKEPINESCHARTER/