By PATRICK CASEY
The Walton Braves softball team took advantage of four costly errors in the third inning to rally from a 1-0 deficit for a 3-1 victory over Tallahassee Godby on Thursday night as the Lady Braves captured the first playoff win in the sport in school history and earned a fourth contest against defending state champion West Florida in the second round of the Class 4A playoffs.
The Cougars, known for their speed and prowess at the plate, scratched across a run in the top of the first inning as Tyra Brown reached on a throwing error, moved to second on Cassidy Mehr’s single and scored on a groundout by Kyaira Brown for the early lead.
Walton freshman starter Hannah Poole had a shaky first inning in front of a considerable playoff crowd as she hit Leanne Duke to put another runner on base before retiring Chasitie Hart to end the frame.
The Braves put two runners on in the second inning as both Poole and Jasmin Hester were hit by pitches but neither were able to cross the plate when Brown was able to strike out Kiki Bogart to end the threat.
The third inning was the charm for Walton for the second Thursday night in a row as Kayla Jackson started the inning by getting hit by a pitch. Shortstop Jamie Lamb followed with a single to move courtesy runner Shyy Walker to third with Lamb drawing a throw to second base that got away from the Godby defense, allowing Walker to tie the game and Lamb to head to third, drawing yet another bad throw that saw Lamb score the go-ahead run. Walton wasn’t finished as Sydni Earley reached on an error and moved to third when Mara Morse sacrificed her over, drawing a hard tag from pitcher Tyra Brown that saw her ejected from the contest for “malicious contact.”
Junior Madison Gorman took over for Brown on the mound and was greeted by a Poole single to plate Earley for a 3-1 lead that would be all the scoring in the contest.
Godby loaded the bases in the top of the fourth as Hart walked with Debbie Freeman adding a single. Julia Grove was hit by a pitch moments later to load the bases but Poole got a bouncer back to the mound from Savanah Bailey for a force out at home, then struck out the next two batters to end the inning.
The missed opportunity took the wind out of the Cougars’ sails for the next two innings as they went in order, getting a lead-off single from Bailey in the seventh before Poole coaxed three consecutive pop outs to end the game and set off yet another celebration.
Poole allowed four hits to go with one walk and two hit batters while striking out eight.
Morse has a pair of singles to provide two of Walton’s five hits with Kayla Jackson adding a single of her own to go with being hit while also reaching on an error. Lamb and Poole provided the other two hits with Walker, Lamb and Earley scoring all three runs.
The win earned Walton (22-2) a fourth contest with West Florida (17-10) on Tuesday, April 28, with the winner moving on to the Region I Final that will be played in the Jacksonville area on Friday, May 1.
Team Notes: Walton’s 22-2 record is the best record in school history in the sport of fast-pitch softball. Freshman pitcher Hannah Poole has 249 strikeouts in 24 regular season games so far in 2015. Kayla Jackson and Mara Morse are the only two seniors on the squad. Walton is now 1-3 in fast-pitch softball playoff games with all the losses coming on the road.
