By Dave Brousseau

POMPANO BEACH – Perhaps the two best high school softball teams in Broward will have the opportunity to prove they’ll have bragging rights for a full calendar year this evening.

Coral Springs Charter (17-2) and Fort Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons (21-1) each advanced to the BCAA Big 8 softball championship game with a pair of victories at Pompano Beach Community Park on Tuesday.

The championship game is set at 6 p.m.

Over the past decade Coral Springs Charter has defeated Cardinal Gibbons 12 consecutive times by a lopsided score of 142-0.

Stellar pitching was key for both teams advancing to the finale.

Junior right-hander Courtney Wahlbrink tossed a pair of shutouts (12-0 and 1-0) to lead the Panthers to their eighth consecutive Big 8 championship final.

Wahlbrink had nine strikeouts in the win over Cooper City and 12 more against Western, in a game the Panthers lone run was unearned.

“I know my team has my back,” said Wahlbrink. “I pushed through the best I could. I worked on the zone because I was tired a little bit, so I work on my spin and that do the work for me.”

Each of the Panthers two losses during the season came by just one run, a 1-0 loss to Oxbridge Academy in eight innings to open the season and 6-5 in eight innings to Melbourne.

Senior Lydia Berent, who signed to play college softball at Stanford, went five innings allowing two hits and struck out 12 in the Chiefs 10-0 win over West Broward. She only tossed one inning in the 20-4 semifinal victory over Pembroke Pines Charter.

Junior infielder Morgan Beavers had three hits, two home runs and six RBI in the win over Pines Charter.

“I told Morgan hasn’t had the number she wanted compared to the last two years,” said Cardinal Gibbons coach Emily Estroff. “I told her to stay patient and that we trust her in a much-needed moment.

 I was proud of her today.”

Gibbons scored double digit runs in games 14 times this season, including the last seven games played.

Dave Brousseau is a veteran journalist who worked at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and is a longtime BCAA Correspondent. Need to reach out to him? Contact him at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.