Madison County, NFC, Florida High, Lincoln, Chiles win district softball, baseball titles

A busy week of baseball and softball came to an end Thursday as 13 different Big Bend teams played to raise district championships by the third out of the night. Eight different Big Bend baseball and softball teams won district titles, including four winning both.

Here is how local teams fared in the district championship round.

Baseball

1A-5: Madison County 16, Sneads 1

The boys from Boot Hill walked away with a dominant win over Sneads at home to win the district championship, 16-1. Seniors Blaydon Plain and Rhett Rutherford both knocked in a team-high three runs, including Plain scoring three times.

Junior Parker Copeland closely followed, batting in two runs off of one hit. Madison County had 16 hits. Copeland picked up the win, allowing one run on four hits and striking out nine over four innings.

2A-1: North Florida Christian 11, Wakulla Christian 1

It was the Eagles versus the Saints once again for the 2A-1 title and once again, NFC came out with the title in dominant fashion, 11-1.

Sophomore Kaseman Pressley hit his fifth home run of the season and senior Joseph Ervin hit a grand slam. Junior Traylon Ray scored three runs on two hits and scored twice.

Senior Tucker Narkinsky earned the win, pitching four innings. He allowed no runs on one hit and struck out six.

3A-1: Florida High 5, Pensacola Catholic 3

The Seminoles were one of two area Big Bend baseball teams that pulled off district title upsets. Florida High went up on top-seeded Pensacola Catholic, 3-1, before the Crusaders tied it up in the fourth. However, a pair of runs in the top of the seventh and a strong defensive response gave Florida High the upset win.

Senior Drew Faurot homered for the third time in the past five games and scored twice. Senior Reagan Pfeiffer added two hits.

On the mound, senior Boone Hosey and sophomore Kyler Thorp both split time, with Hosey pitching three innings to Thorp's four. Hosey allowed no runs off of three hits and struck out four. Thorp allowed three runs off of six hits and also struck out four.

4A-2: Suwannee 8, Wakulla 5

The Bulldogs have been a force to reckon with all season, and Wakulla did keep pace with Suwannee for the first few innings. The second inning ended seeing the War Eagles down by only one run, 3-2. However, Suwanne scored five more from the fourth inning on out to Wakulla's three, giving the Bulldogs the district title, 8-5.

Wakulla senior Briyaun Butler-Moore led on the bats with two RBIs off of one hit and junior Reid Joyner and senior John Pierini split time on the mound. Joyner allowed two runs on one hit and struck out three in 2.1 innings. Pierini allowed six runs on five hits striking out three over 3.2 innings. Wakulla will most likely draw an at-large bid into regionals.

5A-2: Lincoln 8, Mosley 4

The second upset of the night belonged to Lincon in a game where it was a big underdog. Mosley, the defending state champion, No. 1 seed, and host, rolled past Rickards with ease in semifinals.

After going down 4-0 in the second, Lincoln scored eight unanswered runs to tear the district title out of the Dolphins' fins, 8-4. Junior Ryan Stillman had the big at-bat on the night, hitting a two-run home run. Sophomore Myles Bailey had two hits and two RBI.

Junior Carson Kelly allowed no runs off of one hit and struck out six over three innings. Junior Kolten Leach pitched two innings, allowing four runs on four hits and striking out three. Senior Jordan Logsdon closed the game, allowing no runs on one hit and striking out two in one inning.

6A-2: Chiles 10, Buchholz 0

Chiles (20-7, 2-2 6A-2) made quick work of Buccholz (17-9, 2-1 6A-2) in the 6A District 2 championship on Thursday.

The Timberwolves fired off four runs in the first inning and never looked back.

"That takes the pressure off of you," Timberwolves head coach Dick Steed said.

Chris Stanfield led the team with three runs and an RBI double in the shutout victory.

The game only went to five innings as Stanfield sealed the victory with one final run to mercy rule Buccholz.

"That's one of the goals you try to set at the beginning of the year," Steed said. "It's not easy especially when you're in a district as competitive as ours."

The district championship victory served as payback from when Buccholz defeated Chiles 2-1 in the 6A-2 opener.

Chiles has won 11 straight entering the regional playoffs.

Their last three wins have been shutouts, outrunning Leon, Fleming Island, and Buccholz 21-0.

"Over the last three or four weeks, it looks like we're playing our best baseball," Steed said. "Hopefully we can keep it going."

Beginning their season 2-3, are currently ranked No. 3 in 6A.

"We didn't get off to a great start in our season but the kids never wavered," Steed said. "At worse we're going to end up as the No. 2 ranked team in 6A since Pace and Tate played each other tonight."

"That'll put us at home at against whoever ends up being No. 6. We'll find that out on Saturday."

Gerald Thomas III covers FAMU athletics for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at gdthomas@gannett.com or on Twitter @3peatgee.

Softball

1A-5: Madison County 7, Union County 4

Keep the titles flowing in Madison as the Cowgirls matched the Cowboys' success on the field, besting top-seeded Union County, 7-4, on the road, to win the Class 1A District 5 championship.

Sophomore Kelise Shea Thompson had three hits and scored one run. Sophomore Josie Driggers scored three times. Madison out-hit Union County 10-4.

Driggers allowed four runs off of five hits and striking out two over four innings. Starter Thompson allowed no runs, one hit, and fanned four in two innings.

2A-1: North Florida Christian 5, Aucilla Christian 4

Don't call it a comeback. For the second straight game, North Florida Christian erased an early deficit to win. However, on Thursday, a lot more was on the line and the Eagles faced one of the largest hills to climb of the season.

Aucilla Christian, which was coming off a dominant victory over Wakulla Christian, scored four times in the top of the first inning. However, NFC responded with three runs in the first, tacked another on in the fifth to tie it, and one in the sixth to take the lead.

It was the quick thinking of senior Anna Calvert to steal home off a wild pitch that eventually won the Eagles the district championship.

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"We seem to play better from behind," Eagles head coach Dennis Gorham said. "We've played up and down all year because we're young, but we're experienced. Thes girls have a fighting spirit in them from the beginning of the season where they're never completely out of the game."

There's no doubt the NFC is a young squad. There are only three seniors out of the 13 rostered players, but again and again, the Eagles have shown they've been up to the task. The effort has been led off by its senior captain and West Florida commit Emma Brice, who knew her team was going to uphold a championship standard Thursday afternoon.

"We just said hey let's go in there, put some solid swings on because we knew we could do it," Brice said. "We wanted to be loud and support each other because we knew we had it. 4-0 top the first, but we had a whole game left."

NFC has had the benefit of brewing up talent from a young age and Brice has been a cornerstone of the program for six seasons. The standard has been winning a district title and she expected her team to pull out on top either way. With this being her final season as an Eagle, she has focused on going the distance.

"It's so important to me to keep this going," Brice said. "I want to go as far as I can. I love this team. I couldn't have had a better team for my senior year, and I just hope we keep going. I believe we can."

NFC heads into a competitive region heading forward, headlined by University Christian and Trinity Christian. The good thing is that the road to a regional title starts at home, either way, drawing a top-four seed as a district champion, and will most like land as the No. 3 seed in the district.

The Eagles' belief has taken them far this season and they believe their double-edged sword of youth and experience will catch some teams off guard.

"They knew what to expect from some of our older girls, everyone looks at MaxPreps and stats, but what they don't know is the heart of the younger girls," Gorham said. "They don't know that heart if they haven't seen us. They don't know we're not going to give up no matter what the score is and that we're going to give our best till the last pitch of every game."

3A-2: Baldwin 7, Florida High 6

The showdown between the Indians and the Seminoles was one of the most dramatic of the night. After going up 3-0 early, Florida High responded with an in-the-park home run from junior Jaysoni Beachum to pull within one.

In the fifth, Florida High blew things open, scoring four runs to take a 6-3 lead. The tides turned once again, seeing Baldwin score three to tie it up and eventually walk-off in the seventh to win the 3A-2 district title, 7-6, over the Seminoles.

"They never gave up," Seminoles head coach Brittany Gilliam said. "It was a hard-fought battle. There were some pretty clutch moments that we could've taken care of, but at the end of the day, Baldwin came out on top. But this isn't the end of our story. This is going to make our girls 100 percent better."

Nerves did play a part in the finish according to Gilliam said. After topping Marianna for the second time this season, Florida High got a boost into the top spot in 3A, adding some pressure onto their shoulders. It was a moment of reflection for the Seminoles and Gilliam believes that her team is going to benefit from a lower moment.

"It was just nerves tonight," Gilliam said. "We were just trying to do too much. We just have to stay relaxed and know what we're doing before the ball gets to us. That was strictly pressure and we'll get better at that. We've just got to play our game."

Florida High did have big-time performances on the night. Beachum's home run highlighted the effort, senior Camryn Miller knocked in four runs and Carly Allen struck out four.

The Seminoles head into an extremely competitive region, with Baldwin, Marianna, and West Nassau, putting them on the road to start off, but they are aware of the challenges ahead. However, they believe this loss is going to give them the spark they need to make a deep postseason run.

"The girls are all really close and the main thing is just not worrying about what the other team has," Gilliam said. "We need to be confident in what we have. There's no looking at whether they have this hitter or this pitcher. I'm really instilling in the girls to know what we've got, know what we can do, and put the pressure on teams that way."

4A-1: West Florida 8, Wakulla 3

A late-game rally wasn't enough to come back for the War Eagles as West Florida built up an 8-0 lead by the end of the second inning. Wakulla tacked on three runs in the fifth, but it was too much to overcome as the Jaguars took the title in a 8-3 victory.

Junior Kylah Ross knocked n two of Wakulla's three runs while senior Brooklyn O'Neal batted in the other. In the circle, senior Victoria Dichio pitched the bulk of the game, allowing two runs on two hits and striking out seven in five innings. Wakulla will most likely draw an at-large bid into regionals.

5A-2: Lincoln 4, Fort Walton Beach 0

Despite being the higher seed, Lincoln was on the road to taking on Fort Walton Beach. It was a game that was deadlocked for a while, but a four-run fifth inning proved to be enough as Lincoln won the 5A-2 title, 4-0 over the Vikings. Lincoln is the fourth Big Bend school to win both the softball and baseball district titles.

It's no surprise that senior pitcher Gwen McGinnis dominated the game, allowing no runs on four hits and striking out 12. This is the 17th time McGinnis has broken double-strikeout figures this season.

At-bat, McGinnis, sophomore Madison Driggers, and junior Olivia McCroan all brought in runs for Lincoln. They took advantage of what they were able to get as Lincoln only had two hits on the night.

Jack Williams covers prep sports for Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at jwilliams@tallahassee.com, on Twitter @jackgwilliams.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Madison Co., NFC, Florida High, Lincoln, Chiles win softball, baseball district titles