Five minutes before the biggest bat of her life, Newsome's Cassidy Davis had been replaced on the mound after loading the bases.

Then in the top of the seventh, with two outs, Davis took a first pitch over the left field wall for a two-run homer. They were insurance runs to help the Wolves defeat Coral Reef 5-1 for the Class 8A state title. It's the first team state title in the history of Newsome High School.

"I wasn't worried about coming off the mound," Davis said. "I was just relaxed. She had been throwing me inside the whole game, so I was ready for it and it just happened to be my pitch. It went pretty well.

"This has just been amazing. The whole experience with all these girls has been great."

Davis got the Wolves on the scoreboard first with an RBI single to center field in the top of the third that scored Maddy Lynn. Hannah Pridemore added another run to make 2-0.

Coral Reef answered in the bottom of the third with Carsyn Gordon's RBI triple to cut Newsome's lead to two.

Lynn increased Newsome's lead to 3-1 with a deep ball to center field that scored Livia Chandler.

With help from the bats, Davis was able to lockdown on the mound. She retired seven-straight batters before she got in a bases loaded jam in the sixth. With two outs, Claire Feldman replaced Davis on the mound and got the final out of the inning without any damage.

Then in the seventh, Davis hit her two-run homer and Feldman helped retire the side, with Davis securing the final out with a pop fly to left field. And Newsome began celebrating their title, making history and keeping a streak going for the Bay area.

Class 8A belongs to Hillsborough County. For the second-straight season, a softball team from Hillsborough County claimed the 8A title. It's the sixth-straight year a Tampa Bay area team has won a state title.

"Hillsborough County's 8A is tough and that district prepared us for the unknown," Newsome coach Autumn Dunn said. "When we beat Bloomingdale in our district semifinal game, when we were shaking hands, several of their players said "good luck at state." Because they knew we had what it takes to get here.

"Their confidence in us was great. And I've been getting text messages throughout the week from coaches from our county. They wanted us to keep it going."