Winter Springs, Hagerty sweep state softball coach and player honors
Winter Springs and Hagerty turned title runs into statewide hardware, sweeping Class 5A and 7A coach and player honors for Seminole County.
Seminole County’s two biggest softball programs finished the season with a clean sweep of the state’s top class awards, as Winter Springs and Hagerty each took both coach and player honors from Florida Dairy Farmers. The recognition capped championship seasons for Farrah Gordon’s Bears and Tom Kreahling’s Huskies, and it put Seminole County at the center of Florida’s postseason softball map.
Florida Dairy Farmers announced its 2026 softball awards after statewide voting by coaches and media representatives, a format that makes the honors a measure of season-long dominance rather than one hot weekend. Winter Springs claimed the Class 5A pair after Gordon led the Bears to a 24-6 record and a second straight state championship. Lauren Daugherty, a University of Kentucky commit, was named Class 5A Player of the Year after hitting .389 with 11 doubles, six home runs, nine walks and only 10 strikeouts. She also committed no errors all season, a sign of how complete her year was behind the plate and in the field. Daugherty is listed by her club program as a 2027 graduate and a catcher-secondary outfielder.
Hagerty matched that run on the Class 7A side. Kreahling earned Coach of the Year after guiding the Huskies to a 27-4 finish and the school’s first softball state championship. Hagerty beat Western 2-0 in the title game, and freshman pitcher Bella Ortiz fueled the tournament run with back-to-back complete-game shutouts. Freshman shortstop Mattingly Klein took Player of the Year after batting .500 with eight doubles, one triple, six home runs, 40 runs scored and 13 stolen bases.
The Seminole County sweep reflected a larger pattern for the area’s softball programs: Winter Springs and Hagerty are not just collecting trophies, they are building sustained expectations. Winter Springs’ title run extended Gordon’s program momentum, while Hagerty’s breakthrough carried the weight of avenging a 6-5 championship loss from the previous season. Together, the two schools turned year-round development, continuity on the bench and pressure-filled playoff runs into statewide recognition.
The rest of Florida’s awards only sharpened the view from Seminole County. Pace junior Hannah DeMarcus won the overall Miss Softball award on June 10 after leading Pace to a 20-2 season with a 0.90 ERA and 315 strikeouts in 156 innings, giving the state another dominant standard-bearer and showing how crowded the top of Florida softball has become.
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