{"id":283091,"date":"2026-05-24T22:27:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T22:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/283091\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T22:27:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T22:27:20","slug":"winter-springs-repeats-as-florida-class-5a-champion-while-honoring-fallen-teammate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/283091\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter Springs Repeats as Florida Class 5A Champion While Honoring Fallen Teammate"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Winter Springs<\/a> High School softball<\/a> team entered the 2026 season with a purpose beyond defending its Florida<\/a> state title. This one was for a fallen teammate.<\/p>\n

A Season Dedicated to Kennedy<\/p>\n

Having dedicated the 2026 season to Kennedy Jackson, a starting first baseman as a freshman who died in October of 2025<\/a>, the Bears completed their mission by beating Niceville, 6-0, on Saturday in Longwood to win their second consecutive Class 5A state championship.<\/p>\n

Winter Springs Makes County History<\/p>\n

In becoming the first Seminole County team to win back-to-back titles, Winter Springs shut out all seven of its postseason opponents, outscoring them 71-0.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just super proud of this team and how far we came for the second time,\u201d said Winter Springs\u2019 star junior pitcher Tiffany Seamann, who teamed with Christina Brisson in beating Niceville.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was extremely rough getting through such a big loss (with Kennedy), but I felt like it gave us so much more passion playing, knowing that we were playing for her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Juniors Tiffany Seamann, Abigail Hooper Get the Bears Rolling<\/p>\n

Seamann got things going for Winter Springs in the fourth inning when she doubled and then came home on an Adison Pierce single.<\/p>\n

One inning later, junior catcher Abigail Hooper smashed a two-run home run to give Winter Springs a 3-0 lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe felt Kennedy\u2019s presence over the whole season,\u201d Hooper said. \u201cWe know she has been cheering us on and we played for her.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been times when I\u2019ve gotten emotional, especially Saturday when I rounded the bases. I thought, \u2018Man, Kennedy should be here.\u2019 But we\u2019ve leaned on each other to lift us up and keep us focused. We are more than a player, more than a team. We are family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Closing Out Another Championship<\/p>\n

Winter Springs extended the lead to 6-0 in the sixth inning when Pierce scored on a sacrifice bunt by Bella Reed, and senior shortstop Lilly Clark and Hooper both scored on a double by Laura Daugherty.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t be more proud of this team,\u201d Clark said. \u201cEvery game was more than a game to us and we did everything in honor of Kennedy. She would be so proud of us and I am so blessed to even be able to play with these girls and for this program.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis season definitely wasn\u2019t easy, but I\u2019m so glad I got to finish my high school career the way I did,\u201d Clark said.<\/p>\n

A Dominant Finish<\/p>\n

Winter Springs closed the year with a nine-game win streak. The Bears shut out Lake Buena Vista, 18-0, and East River, 13-0, to win the District 6 title.<\/p>\n

In the regional playoffs, Winter Springs blanked River Ridge, 13-0; Sebring, 12-0; Gainesville, 5-0; Pembroke Pines Charter, 4-0; and Niceville.<\/p>\n

Jeff Gardenour can be reached via email at jgardenour1962@gmail.com<\/a> or X @JMarkG1962 <\/p>\n

\"\"Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Winter Springs High School softball team entered the 2026 season with a purpose beyond defending its Florida…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283092,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-283091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}