Miriam Schmoll and Allison Muraskin will be battling it out on the college softball diamond for years to come.
On Saturday, Schmoll, a USF commit, and Muraskin, a UCF commit, battled for the Class 5A State Softball title. Muraskin's Coral Springs Charter team came out on top with a 9-2 victory over Bayshore to claim the championship, the program's second-straight title.
Schmoll and Muraskin matched pitch for pitch and the game was scoreless until the fifth inning.
"I know you have to keep fighting through because it's going to come down to one pitch and whoever is going to come through in the clutch," Muraskin said. "I just had faith in my girls. We got it done."
Coral Springs Charter opened the game with runners on first and second with two outs, but Schmoll was able to leave them stranded with her second strikeout of the game. Bayshore followed n the bottom of the first with runners on first and second, but Muraskin got the third out with a strikeout to leave the Bruins runners stranded.
Panthers first baseman Lindsey Garcia led off the top of the second with a double for a great scoring opportunity. Schmoll then retired the next three batters.
The Bruins junior really got into a groove in the third inning with three-straight strikeouts.
Schmoll sparked Bayshore's offense when the she singled to left field in the bottom of the third, moving catcher LaShara James, who reached base on an error, to second. Centerfielder JoJo Muldoon's bunt moved the runners to second and third.
But Muraskin got the Panthers out of the jam with two-straight strikeouts.
Coral Springs Charter thought they had a great scoring opportunity in the top of the fourth. Catcher Gianna Boccagno reached base with a single to right field. She seemingly reached third with a throwing error after Garcia's bunt. But the umpire ruled the bunt landed outside the batter's box for an out.
The Panthers got another scoring opportunity in the fifth inning. A fielding error by the Bruins resulted in Coral Springs Charter shortstop Skyler Fairchild reaching second, and Megan Ashworth, who originally reached base on a walk, advancing to third with one out.
This time Coral Spring Charter cashed in. Muraskin crushed a two-run double to left field.
James responded for Bayshore with a solo home run over the center field wall, her second home run of the finals. She added another homer in the bottom of the seventh.
A pair of Bayshore throwing errors led to two Coral Springs Charter runs in the top of the sixth to make it 4-1. The Panthers poured on the runs in the top of the seventh to put an exclamation point on the win.