District softball: Riley Kapparis leads Yulee in gritty victory; Fletcher, Middleburg win

Closing out the district for a team on the bubble, Riley Kapparis was feeling the stress.

"It was very stressful," the Yulee sophomore pitcher said. "I was like shaking up there, like, 'I'd better get an out.'"

Kapparis pitched out of four consecutive late-inning jams to lead the Hornets past host Bishop Kenny 4-2 in the Florida High School Athletic Association District 3-4A softball championship.

Yulee had entered the districts with the ninth-best ranking in Region 1-4A, potentially needing the automatic bid to clinch a berth in the regionals.

Kapparis, who also contributed an RBI single, made sure they got it. Bishop Kenny placed runners in scoring position in each of the last five innings, but the pitcher escaped from jam after jam.

The Hornets took an early lead on runs batted in by Jena Edwards and Ava Martyn.

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DISTRICT 1-7A

Ciara Gibson capped a 4-for-4 night with the game-winning double in the bottom of the seventh, lifting Oakleaf past Creekside 8-7 to win District 1-7A.

Top-seeded Oakleaf had trailed 7-5 entering the seventh to Creekside, which got two doubles from Riley Waters.

DISTRICT 2-6A

Tallahassee Chiles pulled ahead in the fifth inning to defeat Fleming Island 4-3 in Wednesday's District 2-6A final. Chesney Miles went 2 for 3 for the Golden Eagles.

DISTRICT 3-6A

Megan Batten's RBI single in the eighth powered Fletcher to a 9-7 victory against First Coast, lifting the Senators into the playoffs from only the 10th-highest ranking in the region.

Catcher Emily Perry went 3 for 4 with a double and Jadyn Rogers contributed four RBI for Fletcher, which survived a five-run second inning by the Buccaneers.

DISTRICT 3-5A

Middleburg senior Mallory Forrester delivered her latest gem, a one-hit shutout with 15 strikeouts to lift the Broncos past county rival Ridgeview 1-0.

The only run came in the first inning, when Alyssa Prather drove in Kaelyn Hagan for Middleburg's only run against the five-hitter thrown by the Panthers' Lily Bennett.

DISTRICT 4-5A

Gainesville defeated Ocala Vanguard 15-8 to win the district. St. Augustine, the only local, lost in the first round.

DISTRICT 2-4A

Haley Marker homered and drove in four runs as Baker County overcame a sub-.500 regular season record, topping Paxon 7-1 in the District 2-4A final.

South Alabama commit Madison Lagle hurled a four-hitter with nine strikeouts, boosted to an early three-run lead.

DISTRICT 4-4A

Matanzas beat North Marion 7-2 in the final, after St. Johns County's Menendez and Tocoi Creek were eliminated.

DISTRICT 2-3A

The rally specialists at Baldwin fought to their latest nail-biting victory, defeating Florida High 7-6 on Rylan Gray's walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh.

Cali Hartung (3 for 4), Jazmine Ramos-Merced (2 for 3) and Riley Page (2 for 4) had multiple hits to fuel the Gateway Conference champions' comeback from three runs down.

DISTRICT 3-3A

Kinley Carlton and Abbie Roach led the power display with homers and six combined RBI for Keystone Heights, rolling past Alachua Santa Fe 12-2.

Madi Mitzel earned the victory for Keystone, which scored seven times in the third.

DISTRICT 4-3A

Providence's Zoe Yaeger came through with her best game of the season, a 4-for-5, two-homer outing with four runs batted in to lead the Stallions past West Nassau 9-2 in Callahan.

Eighth-grader Summer Stearns homered, catcher Grace Wilson went 3 for 4 and Joey Trawick pitched around 11 Warrior hits.

DISTRICT 2-2A

Trinity Christian defeated St. Johns Country Day 5-0 in the District 2-2A final behind a four-hit shutout by Carolyn Lasater.

Breezy Burnett added a triple and scored twice, as Trinity notched a pair of runs in the second and three more in the third.

DISTRICT 3-2A

Defending regional champion University Christian quickly defeated Harvest Community 21-0, helped by a three-inning no-hitter from Sophia Kardatzke and Alyssa Smith.

Jaleigha Harris hit two of the seven doubles for UC, the Class 2A state finalist in 2021.

DISTRICT 4-2A

Lexi Peacock homered, tripled and drove in six runs for Peniel Baptist, a 13-3 winner over Gainesville St. Francis in District 4-2A. Summer Langston also went 3 for 4 with a double.

DISTRICT 5-1A

Madison County scored one run in each of the last three innings to upset top-seeded Union County 7-4.

Madison County did its damage at the top of the order, where Josie Driggers was 3 for 4 with a double and Kelsie Shea Thompson went 4 for 5.

DISTRICT 6-1A

Kadence Compton pitched a shutout and hit a home run for Fort White, rolling past Branford 11-0.

Ciara Byrd also went deep, while Gracie Clemons and Madison Brown got three hits apiece.

Clayton Freeman covers high school sports and more for the Florida Times-Union. Follow him on Twitter at @CFreemanJAX.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: High school softball: 2022 Jacksonville-area district tournament winners