Montverde Academy made the most of their first-ever state softball championship game appearance.
Every time their opponent Bishop Verot put up some runs, Montverde would answer. The Lady Eagles ran out of answers though and lost the 4A State Softball Championship 7-5.
Bishop Verot jumped out to an early 4-0 lead with a strong first inning. But Montverde responded in the second.
Brittany Shirley's two-out, two-run single to left field sparked the rally. Natalia Rodriguez followed that up with an RBI triple to cut the Vikings lead to one.
The Lady Eagles evened things at 4-all in the third inning when Victoria Atkinson scored on a Bishop Verot tag-out error.
The Vikings regained the lead in the bottom of the fourth with an RBI single to make it 5-4. But Montverde tied the game at 5-all when Emily Martin, who reached base with a single to center field, scored on a wild pitch.
Montverde switched pitchers in the sixth. Heather Franson entered the game for Bailey Battles. First pitch, Bishop Verot's Sammie Massaro went yard over the left field wall. The Vikings tacked on another run and Battles came back to the mound with a runner at first and two outs.
Battles was able to get out of a bases loaded jam and get the final out, but the Lady Eagles bats went cold in the top of the seventh.