South Walton Ends Merritt Island’s Run In State Semifinal

The Mustangs stuck together to stay in the battle and show the mettle that took them this far.

Suffering through the sweltering heat and conditions way back in the fall workouts, from the very start of the school year the South Walton Seahawks have pushed themselves to the extreme in pursuit of the ultimate goal. Through the grind of a challenging season both on and off the field, the team drew together as one cohesive group all focused on the same thing.

Tuesday evening that purpose was realized, as South Walton battled to a 7-3 victory over the Merritt Island Mustangs in a Class 4A state semifinal at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers. Now the Seahawks (21-10) find themselves playing in Wednesday’s 4A championship against the Cardinal Gibbons Chiefs, with the opportunity to win their first state title.

“This is unbelievable,” junior Charlie Wilcox said. “When we started the season, it wasn’t what we expected. We came together as brothers and battled through, and now we are here. Everything we’ve gone through, all those workouts in the fall where we were dying out there, for it all to pay off and play in a stadium like this and be able to have the chance at winning a state championship for our school is just amazing. It worked out so far, so one more game. We’re not done.”

This is the second trip to the state tournament for this program, after also reaching the 1A state semifinal back in the 2017 season. The experience gained from that proved very valuable in helping Seahawks Manager Nick Borthwick prepare his players this time around.

“The first time you come, you kind of have that shock factor,” Coach Borthwick said. “Coming here and playing here in the heat, you have to take it into consideration. It was hot and it was intense. So you have to prepare with your hydration, but you also have to understand how to play this big outfield. We play some games in big fields around the Panhandle, but just being aware of the entire atmosphere and schedule. We didn’t use our whole practice time, just because we were trying to hydrate and keep the guys fresh, because the heat is a real thing down here. But our guys were ready to go and they played well tonight.”

Right fielder Mark Coakley is appreciated after making a diving catch to end the second inning.

South Walton took control right away with its first swings in the bottom of the first. Coleman Borthwick led off with a walk and then advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Jackson Perkins. Frank Wells also drew a walk to bring up Wilcox, who promptly jumped on the first pitch he saw and sent it slowly sailing high and deep just over the right field fence for a three-run home run.

“We had two guys on and I was going up to the plate looking for something to do damage with,” Wilcox said. “I saw a pitch that I could hit and I took my chance and swung the bat and I got a good piece of it. It just happened and it was a great feeling. It came off the bat and I thought it had a chance. I had a few in BP that came off the bat and that went out, so I was feeling good. I saw it in the air, and I saw the right fielder drifting back and then I saw it hit that poster out there. It was unbelievable; it felt like I was on clouds.”

The Mustangs (24-6) answered back to get on the scoreboard with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth. Romeo Tornga reached on an error and Mark Coakley was then hit by a pitch to bring the tying tun to the plate. Robert Myer lined a single to right that got past the outfielder to bring a run home and also place runners on the corners. Liam Miller dropped down a squeeze bunt that allowed Coakley to score on the sacrifice play.

Senior starter Nick Wimberly gave his team five strong innings in his final high school start. The right-hander allowed three earned runs on seven hits and three walks, with six strikeouts.

The Seahawks wasted no time in getting a run back in the bottom half of the fourth. With two outs, Nathan Whitney lined a double into the left field corner, and a bobble by the outfielder allowed him to race through the second base bag and slide safely into third. Coleman Borthwick was all over the first offering and sent it straight up the middle and bouncing off of second base for an RBI single that pushed it to a 4-2 lead.

“I came up to the plate with a runner on third and I said to myself to get him in no matter what, to score and get our team a boost of energy,” Coleman said. “Then we’ll keep going and steam rolling. It felt good and I realized then that I got our energy back up. At that point I felt like we had it and we were going to win it. From that moment on that was how I felt.”

Like two heavyweights exchanging haymakers, the Mustangs came swinging right back. Dean Hanselman rolled a single up the middle and Jacob Loeffler walked to get things started once again, and Hudson Blank pulled them back within a run with an RBI single to center.

But Coleman Borthwick came on in relief, and he struck out the next two batters to strand the pair and maintain the lead.

Merritt Island had six hits and got the offense going late to rally for three runs and stay in the dogfight.

The Mustangs were back at it in the top of the sixth. Myer led off with a single deep to second base, and then moved to second on a throwing error on a pickoff attempt. But a sacrifice bunt attempt was fielded well enough to hold the runner, and then the defense erased that lead guy on an infield grounder to short that went for a 6-5 putout at third base.

“There were situations during the regular season that gave us hope, and we started to build as we realized that if we play together we can hang with anybody,” Coleman said. “That’s just how we’ve got to play. We played real good tonight. At the start of the year we were slow and kind of getting against each other. but we came together and now we’re starting to win it and put it together.”

South Walton tacked on three more valuable runs in the bottom of the sixth to push the lead back to four runs. With two outs, Coleman walked and then Jackson Perkins reached on an infield error. Frank Well then delivered an RBI single that scored courtesy-runner Gavin Garrity, and two more runs came in on a throwing error.

The Mustangs were left searching for answers against the hot bats the Seahawks were swinging.

“We’ve been in a dogfight since the first game, when we had to hit a walk-off bomb just to win it,” Coach Borthwick said. “The entire season we played bigger, stronger schools in our region, and we played Stoneman Douglas and Lincoln, some state champions out-of-state, and we were fighting the best competition we can fight because we have those types of games. Hats off to Merritt Island, they’ve got a great ball club. They are gritty and they are hard to beat.”

South Walton proved just as tough to beat. After the struggles the Seahwaks went through during the year, the strength and resolve they gained from those tough stretches manifested to show how strong it has made them.

“We’ve been through a lot of adversity. We got humbled early in the year, and we had to come together as a team,” Coach Borthwick said. “We started playing together, and had a lot of meetings and spiritual uplifting. When our senior pitcher, Carter Ward, hurt his arm, we came behind him together. He also lost his father the next day, and that was an inspirational and motivational moment for our team, because we rallied around Carter and his family, and it was really special to us. So that was a big deal, and now we know what it is like to fight and battle and overcome the struggle and adversity.”

Now the club has a chance to complete the mission they embarked on since those grinding fall days way back at the beginning.

For every team that put in the work and didn’t enjoy the same result in the end, the Seahawks are the type of club that embodies that same journey they all experience. They weathered the up-and-downs and found their biggest strengths when those could have just as easily been their undoing. It takes a lot of luck along the way to get this far, but you make your own luck as well. South Walton is playing for a state title on Wednesday because it earned that right.

“It’s special. A lot of people work hard at this game, in practice and to lift and grind all year. But our guys deserve this opportunity, and they’ve earned it. I’m proud of them, and we’re going to go after it,” Coach Borthwick said.

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