Back in January, Trenton senior Olivia Weaver suffered an injury and her status for this season was uncertain. In fact, there was some discussion that she might not even be able to play in 2025.

“It healed pretty quickly,” Weaver said. “It was a stress fracture in my back…I’m just lucky to be out here.”

Weaver fought through it, did her personal training and rehab, and returned to the lineup in late March.

“That’s a special kid,” said first-year Trenton softball coach Kevin Benson, who has been with the program since 2019. “She’s the one that’s been the glue for this team for a while…that’s one of the key contributors that came back that really started to solidify our lineup, solidify us defensively. Getting her back on the field gave a lot of confidence to the rest of the lineup.”

Although her status was uncertain for this season, the entire team voted for Weaver as team captain, and it wasn’t even close.

“That just made me feel really good, how the girls just care about me so much and wanted me to be out on the field with them,” she said.

Benson said he handles the voting based on a point system with the top three nominees.

Out of a possible 42 points, Weaver received 36 points. The next closest player had 13, according to Benson.

“It was just a landslide,” he said. “She won the team captain position even with an injury. That’s how important she is.”

Weaver, who is batting .324 with 12 hits, 10 runs batted in and 14 runs scored in 44 plate appearances, missed the first 10 games of the regular season.

“She missed quite a bit of the season and even when she did come back, we tried to be slow with her and let her play an inning or two to help build her confidence, because she was concerned about her back and how her back would respond to the rigorous practice and game routine,” Benson said. “Even the first couple of games that she played, it was very sparingly.”

Not only does she mean a lot to the team, but the community also loves her.

Her first plate appearance happened to be a home game against Taylor County (Perry) on March 28, and the whole crowd gave her a standing ovation when she came in as a pinch hitter.

Weaver has been a three-year starter at shortstop for the Tigers, who won the Class 1A state title last year.

On Tuesday, May 13, she gave the defending champs some early momentum with a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning in a 2-1 win against Williston in the FHSAA Rural Region 4 Final.

Sophomore catcher MacKenzie Fisher, a transfer from Chiefland High School, added a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth inning for the game-winning hit to send Trenton back to the final four.

“It’s been a completely different atmosphere compared to Chiefland, and I love it here,” Fisher said. “I’ve always watched her (Weaver) play from Chiefland. She’s a great player, a team player. She cares about everyone and being able to play with her is amazing.”

The No. 4 seed Tigers (17-6) will play top seed Liberty County (Bristol) (21-3), which won the 2023 state title, at 10 a.m. on Tuesday at Boombah-Soldiers Creek Park in Longwood in the FHSAA Rural state semifinals.

The game will be broadcast online (free audio) at Mainstreet Daily News beginning at 9:45 a.m.

Last year at Legends Way Ball Fields in Clermont, Branford defeated Liberty County in the Class 1A state semifinals and Trenton rallied past Holmes County (Bonifay) with a walk-off 3-2 win in the state semifinals.

The Tigers had a miracle comeback in the state championship game.

Trenton was down to its final out and trailing Branford, 4-0, but the Tigers rallied for four runs to tie it in the bottom of the seventh and then won it, 6-5, in extra innings to win their third state softball title since 2019.

“It’s really exciting, especially since we got to win state last year, and to go back my senior year is just really exciting,” Weaver said.

Weaver could only dream about returning earlier in the season, but now it’s become a reality.

“I’m so excited,” said sophomore pitcher Addison Allaire, who is 10-2 in the circle with a 1.54 ERA. “We were talking about it forever (Weaver returning). It’s just good to have her back, just her attitude, her presence on the field, her in general just makes us better and we’re just really happy.”

The Tigers have won eight in a row, and with Weaver back, they are peaking at the right time.

“We really have come together as a team,” said Allaire, who has 165 strikeouts and only 21 walks in 86.1 innings pitched. “We all enjoy being around each other. We have a lot of fun together. We’re going to keep the energy up and hopefully do something good.”

Even though the final four is in a different location, Allaire does have experience at the new venue.

“I played travel ball there a couple of times, looking forward to it,” she said.

Benson said he is excited about his team defending its title and seeing what they can do.

“Most all of these ladies on this roster right now that are key contributors were on that team last year,” he said. “When we went to state last year, we dressed 14 girls in that state championship game and all 14 of them contributed in one way shape or form, so we’ve got a lot of experience coming back…it’s a new location but it’s still the same experience, the same atmosphere.”

Even though Trenton is the defending champ, Benson believes his team is the underdog this season.

“We’re going to have to execute,” he said. “There’s not going to be an easy game…whether we’re the hunted or the hunters, quite frankly, I think we’re the hunters because we’re the four seed, so we’re going to be looking up. Yeah, we’re the defending state champions, but we had a little bit of a lull there in the middle of the season for some unfortunate circumstances that kind of dropped us down a little bit…I kind of like the idea of being the underdog and people thinking we’re not quite what Trenton used to be in the last couple of years. It takes pressure off the girls.”

If the Tigers can get past Liberty County, a rematch likely awaits against Branford, which will play Northview (Bratt) in the other state semifinal at noon on Tuesday.

The FHAA Rural State Championship game is at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

“They’ve (Branford) got a very experienced senior-heavy team this year,” Benson said. “They’ve tasted the blood in the water for two years now. All the chips are in their corner. I’ve told our girls they are probably the team to beat.”

The pieces are in place and the Tigers are just two wins away from winning their second straight state title.

“I definitely think that there was a huge expectation set for us this year coming off a state championship, but I knew we could do it, so we just kept working hard and here we are,” Weaver said. “We’re about to go back to the final four.”