Lady Pirates Still Alive; Lady Bulldogs Eliminated

By Clint Cox

Two of the county’s varsity softball squads advanced to the first round of the FHSAA softball playoffs. While both Marianna and Sneads had hoped for a district championship, both made it to the playoffs as the district runner up. The Sneads Lady Pirates made it to the Class 2A District Two championship game and as expected had to face South Walton. The two squads had very close contests during the season with each team winning in a pitcher’s dual in their respective home games. In the district title game it was another pitcher’s dual, for nine innings the game was scoreless as Sneads pitcher Karissa Childs battled South Walton’s Shelby Watson. But South Walton got a walk off home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to capture the district title and Sneads to travel in the first round of the playoffs as the runner up. Not only did Sneads have to travel, they had to go all the way to Bratt on Tuesday to take on the Lady Chief’s of Northview. The long ride was just a little shorter on the way home as Sneads hung on for a 3-2 win. With that win Sneads gets a rematch with South Walton on Friday night in the Regional Semi-Finals. The Lady Pirates improved to 20-7 on the season and will be at South Walton for round two of the playoffs. Marianna fell to Chipley in the district title bout in a contest that saw the Lady Bulldogs struggle on both offense and defense. With that loss Marianna had to travel to Tallahassee on Tuesday night to square off against the Lady Seminoles of Florida High. That contest turned out to be a pitcher’s dual also with Marianna’s Hali Stout and Florida High’s Taylor Rossman. Both pitchers kept the other team in check but the Lady Seminoles managed a run in the second inning to squeak out a 1-0 win over the Lady Bulldogs. Marianna got runners in scoring position a couple of times but could never cash in. With the loss Marianna’s season comes to a close with a final record of 24-5. Florida High improved to 24-3 and will now host Madison County in the Regional Semi-Finals on Friday.