BARTOW — The first state tournament for softball was in 1988, and Bartow made its first final four appearance in 1990. Since then, the Yellow Jackets have never gone more than four year without make a trip to the state tournament — until now.
Going into this season, it has been five seasons, not including the Covid-shortened 2020 season, since Bartow was in the final four. For Bartow juniors Red Oxley, McKenzie Gibson and Shay Narcisse, all three year starters, they got a step closer last season when they reached the regional finals, one year after losing in the regional semifinals in 2001.
Of the four things needed to reach the state tournament — pitching, defense, hitting and luck, Bartow in the past two seasons had Oxley's pitching. Defense and hitting let down the Yellow Jackets in those final playoff games the past two seasons, and Bartow also didn't have the luck factor — more on that later.
Bartow coach Glenn Rutenbar's goal this season was to shore up the defense and hitting, and as the season progressed, both players and coach felt the Yellow Jackets were improved in those areas.
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In last week's regional final against Viera, Narcisse gave Bartow the clutch hit that was missing the previous two seasons in the playoff games that Bartow lost, and the defense, with a revamped infield, was enough to support Oxley and send Bartow back to the state tournament.
Bartow will play Doral Academy at 1:30 p.m. on Friday in the semifinals of the 2023 FHSAA Class 6A Softball Finals at Legends Way Field in Clermont.
"It feels like we finally got over that hill we've been fighting for our whole high school career," Oxley said. "So it feels almost a relief that we finally did it. All that hard work has paid off. But then it's also, now it's even more serious. We have to go over two more hills."
Bartow will be going for its ninth state title in softball, which would break the tie with Lakeland football for most state titles in one sport by a Polk County public school team. It would also give Rutenbar his eighth state title, which would tie him with the now retired Bill Castle, who won his eighth last fall among public school coaches.
After the recent near-misses, Rutenbar had his concerns he wanted to address this season.
"Just getting everything a little bit better," Rutenbar said. "Making the defense better. Of course, I thought our pitching would be better, but we needed to get our defense better."
There have been a couple of hiccups with the defense, most recently in the playoffs against South Lake when there were three errors on two batter that led to two runs. But overall, the defense has been much improved.
The outfield is relatively the same with Kyndal Sowell, Narcisse and Destiny Driskall, who has taken over full time in right after seeing spot duty last year.
The big change for Bartow defensively is the infield. Among the starters, only Julia Heter was a starter last season, but she has moved from shortstop to second base. Kynley Quartermaine took over at short, and Ryleigh Knowlton and Lexi Hayford took over at first base for Morgan Grubb.
Third base has been a work in progress with a number of players rotating in with freshman Alyssa Hillman getting the nod of late.
The new infield defense, which includes Gibson behind the plate, has been considerably better. Last year was Gibson's first year behind the plate. Rutenbar said Gibson has improved defensively and is more comfortable behind the plate.
"I think having to catch affected her (batting)," Rutenbar said. "Last year she struggled with her bat because she was doing something (catching) brand new. This year, she's much more comfortable. Her swing was getting too big last year, but she's had a very good consistent year catching. That has been huge. It's been a great year for her to come back."
Gibson, who agreed that catching for the first time affected her at the plate, batted .338 as a freshman but slumped to .257 last year with just four extra-base hits. She has raised her average nearly 200 points to .432 with 13 extra-base hits.
"After the first five or six games, I became more confident in myself and confident in my mechanics, and knowing if I make a mistake I can change it in my next at-bat" Gibson said. "Knowing that, it makes me having a little different mindset knowing that if I do it, it will help all of us."
Rutenbar called Heter the most improved hitter on the team. Her average is up more than 150 points from .262 to .427, and Sowell raised her average from .296 to .392.
Of the new players, Quartermaine is hitting .312, and Driskell is batting .338, up from .250.
Of course, Oxley is as big a part of the lineup as she is pitching (20-2, 0.37 ERA). She leads Bartow with a .462 batting average and with 32 RBIs.
Better batting averages is only half the story of the improved offense. Bartow has more speed on the bases. Five players have double-digit steals, including Chelsei Brisbane, who is courtesy runner for Gibson or Oxley. The Yellow Jackets have 105 stolen bases and have yet to be thrown out.
And when Rutenbar has speed on the bases, he's aggressive in utilizing that speed for extra bases to force defenses into mistakes.
"I didn't realize it before how much our speed has really helped us," Rutenbar said. "That has made a difference."
And the luck factor? Don't discount it. When Bartow made 10 straight trips to the state tournament from 1997 to 2006, the Yellow Jackets twice benefitted from luck in '98 and '00 against Winter Haven and Lake Wales, respectively, when bad throws helped extend innings. Bartow trailed in both games and capitalized on having the extra out with two-out rallies.
Bartow was on the other side of that last year in the region finals. Gibson was hit by a teammate diving for a popped bunt. She had the ball in her glove but could not squeeze it in when she landed hard and the ball trickled out to extend an at-bat that started the winning rally.
It was nearly deja vu last week when Viera had a couple of runners on and Gibson made a diving catch on a popped bunt. This time, however, she wasn't hit by a teammate and held on for the out, and after two more outs, Bartow was region champion.
"It was a big accomplishment for all of us," Gibson said. "We're so much better as a team. We're communicating better and we look different from the team we had in the first game."
Indeed. By the end of the season, Rutenbar was confident that he was taking a stronger team into the playoffs and emphasized that point to take the pressure of his players, especially Oxley.
"We're better," Rutenbar said. "We are better. No matter what happens, we are better, so Red, you don't have to do everything."
