FORT WALTON BEACH — Taryn Gray knew Fort Walton Beach’s state title defense on the softball diamond wouldn’t come easy.
Three seniors graduated, including Alyx Hall’s prodigious bat. Five-tool hitter Hannah Isham transfered to Pace. Meanwhile, the Vikings, as state champs are prone to do, set up a brutally tough schedule in their bid to run it back.
Eight games in, adversity has struck to the tune of a 1-7 start. But Gray isn’t panicking.
She’s been here before. Her girls are winners. She’s a winner, turning around a program that had never won a regional title in just three years. So now it’s back to trusting the process that led to last year’s 7-0 postseason run featuring four one-run wins.
“I think this team has good bones. We just need to figure out who we are and start playing like a state championship team,” she said.
After last week’s 9-0 loss at 2025 6A state runner-up Niceville, Gray challenged her team.
“I told them, ‘Are we going to trust each other? You start trusting each other, things are going to fall into place. But until we do that, then the lesson will keep playing over and over again.'”
Two of the losses have come to another state runner-up in North Bay Haven, marking the majority of their losses to either perennial powers and larger programs like Niceville, Navarre and Gulf Breeze.
“Our main job is to get ready for the playoffs, and if we’re not playing good teams, then we’re not getting ready for the playoffs,” Gray said. “As long as we can make it to Melbourne, we’re going to figure it out, so I think the adversity will make us, at some point, blow up a little and force us to find our identity.”
The good bones include last year’s MVP, ace Izzy Douglas, who’s actually been just as good or better in a number of pitching metrics. She’s allowing less hits, walking less and keeping the ball in the yard, as represented in her drop in opponents’ batting average/on-base percentage (.209/.285 compared to .286/.364 last year). What’s the biggest difference? Her lack of run support.
Last year, her offense batted .345, sported a .421 OBP and averaged 7.7 runs per game behind 84 extra-base hits and 22 home runs. This year, facing a a slew of aces, the Vikings have hit just .209 with a .285 OBP, six extra-base hits and no homers.
“She’s got a job to do, and they’ve got a job to do, too, and so we do it together,” Gray said. “We’re going to have a tough time if we don’t, so we if we figure it out together, you’ll watch them take off just like last year.”
Douglas doesn’t care about last year’s accolades or success. She leaned on Hall heavily least year, but this year is about her being vocal and trusting her teammates — and vice versa.
“I just need to buy in right now, and I need everyone else to buy in as well,” Douglas said. “Every team’s different. We need to develop that trust.”
Fort Walton Beach hosts South Walton (7-0) Thursday before a much-needed, 12-day break from games.
This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Reigning state champ FWB softball not panicking over 1-7 start
Reporting by Seth Stringer, Northwest Florida Daily News / Northwest Florida Daily News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
