WEST PALM BEACH – For the first time in 13 years, King’s Academy’s softball team has won a district championship.
The Lions defeated top-seeded Oxbridge Academy, 5-4, edging the Thunderwolves with a fourth-inning rally after falling behind 3-0 in the third inning.
Sharp defensive play by Tennessee commit Gracyn Needle and Kiersten Zimmerman buoyed King’s Academy (18-4), buying time for the comeback bid against Oxbridge (19-3).
Caroline Duncan shook off the early deficit in the circle, powering through a vaunted Oxbridge Academy lineup the rest of the way, allowing just one run in the final five innings. She threw 118 pitches in the win without any strikeouts, navigating nine hits in a gutsy performance.
“When we fell behind three, I knew it wasn’t the end of the world,” Duncan said. “Oxbridge is a fantastic team. Even though we got three down, we’ve always been a hard-working team this season. We love putting in the work. I knew that deep down, if we kept going, we would make it back on top.”
For King’s Academy, the district title has been a long time coming
Every time King’s Academy head coach Kim Needle saw that banner in the gymnasium ― a taunting reminder that it had been 13 long years since the softball team had won a title ― it elevated her determination.
On Thursday, the streak ended.
“I’m just so excited,” Needle said. “I feel so honored and blessed to coach these girls. I can’t put into words how close they are. They started as middle-schoolers, and now many of them are juniors. They’ve fought for years.”
The victory will likely grant King’s Academy a home playoff matchup in the first round, which they will host on Wednesday, May 6 as the Lions begin their journey through the state playoff bracket.
“It is such a special feeling,” Needle said. “To be able to host regionals is just so exciting. I’m excited for our families that get to come. We have a gorgeous facility. I’m excited for our girls just to keep shining.”
Defensive brilliance steadies the ship in comeback
King’s Academy did not exactly win the game with timely hitting on Thursday.
The Lions tallied just two hits in the contest, but managed five runs on the back of smart base-running, walks, small-ball bunts, and a pair of Thunderwolves errors.
Sometimes, that’s all a team needs.
On the other side of the ball, the Lions defense was exceptional.
Kiersten Zimmerman posted a sliding catch in center field that drew cheers from the visiting crowd.
“We knew we had to come out strong with our defense,” Zimmerman said. “I knew that I had to hold it down in center field. I have to be there for my teammates. I knew that if I could at least make a play, it could help us get momentum.”
In the infield, Gracyn Needle showcased her Division I footwork at shortstop, making several challenging groundballs look routine throughout the course of the game. On the final play, Needle even took some questionable contact from a runner while making a play for the out.
“I’m just proud to be a part of this defense and proud to put my work in out there,” Needle said. “The contact on the last play, I’ll do whatever I can to make sure we get the last out, whether it means getting trucked or not. I’m just happy to make that final out, even if it was with a bang. A win is a win, so let’s go.”
The Lions flip the script, get redemption victory
When these two teams faced off in the regular season, it was very much a one-sided affair.
Oxbridge Academy pitcher Aubrey Vital tallied 12 strikeouts and allowed just two hits in a statement complete game shutout, seemingly situating the Thunderwolves as the clear district favorite down the stretch.
Vital was once against the center of the action on Thursday, helping her own cause by launching a bases-clearing double into the gap and staking Oxbridge to a 3-0 lead.
At that point, it could have gotten out of hand, save for the Lions resiliency and moxie.
Kiersten Zimmerman remembered how that regular-season loss felt and didn’t want to experience that again ― apparently, neither did any of her teammates.
“We fell short two of the last three years in the championship,” Zimmerman recalled. “We deserved this. We’ve worked extremely hard for this. It’s such a cool feeling for our team and the sisterhood that we have and everything we’ve created.”
“We didn’t want to feel how we felt when we lost to them,” Zimmerman continued. “I think that game was good for us, so we didn’t have to feel that again. We can beat them. We knew we could beat them. That game set the standard for us and made us want to beat them more.”
Aided by a pair of costly defensive errors by the Thunderwolves, the Lions roared back into contention, taking the lead with a five-run fourth inning.
In the teams’ first meeting this year, Taylor Priske crushed a home run. Fast-forward to the the bottom of the seventh on Thursday, and Priske once again stepped up to the plate.
The writing was on the wall. One runner on, one out, 5-4 deficit. One could almost hear the Lions dugout suck in a collective breath and hold . . . hold . . . hold it.
Though she singled, it was as if the air was let out of the balloon, and Duncan went on to induce two routine outs to finish things off, cementing a first-round regional matchup at home.
“Our team is built on ‘just keep coming back,'” Needle said. “We’ve been beaten before. They know we have it in us to just keep fighting. When you have high expectations, they don’t get upset, they just keep pushing and driving.”
Alex Peterman is a high school sports reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at apeterman@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: King’s Academy softball wins first district title in 13 years
Reporting by Alexander Peterman, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
