LAKEWOOD RANCH — Cassidy McLellan would not say she was struggling.

She was “just not hitting the ball as hard as I would like.”

McLellan took a different approach Friday, and it paid off.

The left-handed hitter knocked in what proved to be the winning run with a slap hit to left field in the fifth inning, as the Lakewood Ranch High softball team defeated Newsome, 2-0, in the Class 7A regional final at the Mustangs field.

The Mustangs (28-2) will advance to the Final 4 for the fourth straight time. Top-seeded Lakewood Ranch will play Western in one semifinal Friday at Legend’s Way Ballfield in Clermont.

Locked in a scoreless duel against Newsome senior right-hander Kelsey Winters, who the Mustangs battered last year, No. 9 hitter Allyson Bruneman walked with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Left-handed leadoff hitter Sydney McCray followed with a sharp single to left field, chasing pinch-runner Natalie Crestani to second.

McLellan, who bounced a hard-hit single off Winters in her previous at-bat, went the other way with a single to left. The throw from the outfield was cut off and Crestani easily scored the first run of the game. 

“It felt really good,” McLellan said. “I’ve been swinging the bat well and seeing it well, so I was glad to come through for my team.”

Having faced Winters twice last season, McLellan knew what to expect.

“We knew this pitcher had a riseball and curveball,” McLellan said. “We knew they had good defense, so we had been practicing hitting riseballs off the machine and seeing our pitches and driving them.

“Yes, my approach was to go with the pitch and I knew she would be pitching me outside.” 

McLellan was 4-for-13 in the four previous playoff games.

“Cassidy McLellan was due and really due to give us a big game,” Lakewood Ranch coach T.J. Goelz said. “For her to come through like that was big. I was telling Cass ‘You’re due, kid. You’re due. That’s all I’m going to say. Do your things. You’re a great player.’ Big players do big things in big games. She did that tonight.

“She was pressing. She was trying to do bigger things. When she doesn’t think about any of that stuff and she just plays and trusts her natural ability, it’s pretty special. I watched her in practice and she was free and easy, slapping the ball. I said that was the swing we need from you. She came through.”

The Mustangs added an important insurance run in the sixth.

Kelsey Vogel drew a leadoff walk and gave way to pinch-runner Jayla Daoust. With one out, Ella Coiner chased Daoust to third with a double to the left-center field gap.

Taylor Shephard came through with a single to center to score Daoust, but Coiner was gunned down at the plate attempting to score the Mustangs’ third run.

“And the senior comes up and gives us a nice cushion to get us the two runs,” Goelz said of Shephard. “That second run was huge. The second run is so different. It’s different when you’re trying to guard against two runs instead of one run.”

After going nine-up and nine-down to start the game and being limited to three hits during the first six innings by Ella Dodge, the Wolves came alive in the seventh inning, even after a hit batter and a double play to open the frame.

“Oh my God that was so good,” Dodge said of the double play. 

With two outs, two singles to right field placed runners on first and third and brought the tying run to the plate with the wind howling to left field.

“That just made me a lot more comfortable, because we knew that runner on third didn’t matter,” Dodge said of the second run.

“I give those kids credit,” Goelz said. “I don’t want to get beat on a wind-blown home run. If they’re going to win, they’re going to hit four singles to right field. I wasn’t too worried where they were in the lineup.”

Dodge got ahead in the count and fanned Kinsley Castro on a changeup to end the game.

“I just took a deep breath and was confident and went for it,” Dodge said.

“And Ella Dodge with ice in her veins,” Goelz said. “She made some pitches when she needed to. She got the change up when we needed to. I’m so proud of that kid too.”

The defending state champion Mustangs lost in the state semifinals in 2018, finished runner-up in 2019, had their 2020 season canceled after eight games because of COVID.

Now Lakewood Ranch attempts to go back-to-back.

“That was a fun one. It was tough. That’s what regional finals should be like,” Goelz said. “We proved we could win a couple of tight ones in big games, the district final and regional final. We’re warmed up pretty well for states.”

• Despite making two errors in the fourth inning, the Mustangs turned in an outstanding defensive effort. After Newsome (24-4) had runners on first and second with one out as a result of the errors, McCray made a leaping catch in deep left field for the second out. Olivia Feldman followed with a single to right, but Coiner threw a perfect strike to catcher Grace Hogie who tagged out Maria Brooks to keep the game scoreless. Hoagie threw out a runner attempting to steal in the fifth inning. A 6-4-3 double play from Bruneman to Vogel to Shephard produced the first two outs in the seventh inning. “We needed that,” Goelz said. “We executed the defense when we needed.”

• Dodge pitched a five-hit shutout with five strikeouts and no walks (she hit a batter) to go to 23-2 on the season and break the record for wins in a season.

• After defeating Newsome, 2-0, for the district title a year ago, the Mustangs battered Winters for nine hits and six runs in an inning-and-a-third in the regional semifinal in a 15-4 in six innings. “Tip my hat to that pitcher,” Goelz said. “Last time we saw her last year we did really well against her. She got in the groove and she was throwing money pitches. It was less about our approach and more about how good she was. She did a really nice job. I was just glad to see us get some timely hits.”

Dennis Maffezzoli is the deputy sports editor for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and chief reporter for Sarasota Herald-Tribune and HTpreps covering Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties. Support local journalism by subscribing.