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Doral's Abdullah and Villazon are the Dade 7A-4A Softball Player and Pitcher of the Year
The pressure was on this season for the Doral Academy softball team.
After three consecutive trips to the state final four had not resulted in a state championship, junior shortstop Anabela Abdullah didn't want another opportunity to slip away.
Senior Meagan Villazon felt it too.
She stepped into the primary pitching role this season and didn't want to let her teammates down.
For Villazon and Abdullah and the rest of the Firebirds, it was mission accomplished.
The duo was at the heart of Doral's march to its second state title, its first since 2021, and a top 3 national ranking.
The Firebirds finished the season 31-1 and capped their season with a dramatic 5-4 comeback win in eight innings over Valrico Bloomingdale in the Class 6A state semifinals before beating Pace 1-0 in the final.
'It's even more special since it came our senior year,' Villazon said. 'We worked so hard to get to this and it was definitely worth it.'
As such, Abdullah is the Miami Herald's Miami-Dade County Softball Player of the Year and Villazon is the Dade Pitcher of the Year for Classes 7A-4A.
'It was more like relief because that was our goal and we had been there like six years in a row,' Abdullah said. 'We've been No. 1 in the state the entire year so we had to make sure we won it this time. Our seniors are a group of five girls that played together since the sixth grade and I joined that in the seventh grade so we were really close as a team. We had no holes and we were just a big family and everyone was in synch.'
Abdullah, who won a gold medal with Team USA's Under-15 team three years ago, earned a chance at another as she will participate on the Under-18 squad this September in Oklahoma City.
Abdullah, a University of Texas commit, is regarded as one of the best defensive shortstops in the country, which she credits to the tutelage of her longtime coach at Doral, Willie Viruet - the Herald's 7A-4A Coach of the Year.
'(Viruet) is the only defensive coach I've had since I was six and he works with me every single day,' Abdullah said.
But Abdullah added some power to her already strong hitting tools this season.
Abdullah hit .582 and belted a career-high 15 home runs. She also hit 12 doubles, four triples and drove in 59 runs overall.
'My travel coach, Scott Smith, helped me with the mental part,' Abdullah said. 'But I also got in the gym and added some power. I was a lot more comfortable with my swing.'
Villazon split some starts last season with former Doral ace Yessenia Lopez, who now pitches at UCF. She knew the responsibility was hers to carry on a pitching legacy at the school.
Villazon, an FIU signee, more than lived up to expectations, going 26-1 with an 0.63 ERA, and striking out 261 batters in 145 innings. Villazon also hit .475, with two home runs, nine doubles and finished with 45 RBI.
'It felt like I had big shoes to fill, but I just worked as hard as I could to perform well enough for my team and win it, and pushing myself was so much fun,' Villazon said.
