Trenton softball wins Class 1A championship

Trenton's Darian Ingram and Keeli Zingaro celebrate winning the Class 1A state title last month in Clermont.
Trenton's Darian Ingram and Keeli Zingaro celebrate winning the Class 1A state title last month in Clermont.

It’s been quite a run for the Trenton softball team.

On Wednesday afternoon at Legends Way Ball Fields in Clermont, the Tigers defeated Jay, 5-4, to win the Class 1A state title.

It was the second state title in the past three years for Trenton, which is 57-1 during that span.

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“This was probably the best job of coaching that we have done for any state contender team we’ve had,” said Trenton coach Todd Bryant. “We had great pitching and some big hitters at the top, but we won this with a sixth grader at second.”

Addison Alliare went 2-for-4 during the tournament with a couple of sacrifice bunts and also made plays on defense.

“So I feel like we really coached well to get this done,” Bryant said. “This was really a dream come true because everyone was out to beat us.”

Trenton (20-1) led 4-0 entering the top of the sixth, but the Royals (24-6) hit two two-run home runs to tie the game.

The Tigers won it on an error in the bottom of the sixth.

Darian Ingram, who struck out 17 in the semifinals, finished with 13 strikeouts. The Florida Atlantic University signee only walked one batter.

“Darian usually only needed four runs to win,” Bryant said. “It was special to win this again.”

Stetson signee Keeli Zingaro hit a 3-run home run to put Trenton up 4-0 in the fifth inning.

“Darian was our go to in every big game and she’s done a phenomenal job,” Bryant said. “Keeli was stellar at the plate this season with 11 home runs and 34 RBI.”

Bryant said catcher Lillian Wilkerson, a Florida Gulf Coast University signee, made Darian better with great catching and she controlled the run game.

“It was hard to bunt on us because Darian’s rise ball was so effective against the bunt,” he said. “And it’s very difficult to run on Lillian. We didn’t make many errors with Adrian Ingram at shortstop. She has some of the best hands in high school softball.”

Trenton’s only loss this season was in extra innings to Baker County (Glen St. Mary), which was a Class 4A region finalist. They finished the season with a 10-game winning streak.

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