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District softball roundup: Countryside, Seminole dispatch top seeds

 
Published April 16, 2015

PINELLAS PARK — With district semifinals this good, Thursday's final could almost be anticlimactic.

In Wednesday's Class 7A-9 playoffs at Pinellas Park, Seminole survived a pair of deficits to take down second seed Northeast 7-6 while Countryside leapt out to a big lead then held on to dispatch No. 1 East Lake 5-4.

Northeast (18-6) countered a two-run third, led by a run-scoring double from Mackenzie Jahn (two hits, two RBIs), with two of its own via Relynn Capra's homer around the leftfield foul pole in the bottom half. But that would be all the Vikings could muster until the seventh thanks to quality relief pitching from Savannah Farkas.

Surprising even herself —"In warmups, I wasn't throwing that good — the freshman retired 10 of the first 11 batters she faced, four by strikeout. This allowed the Warhawks (15-7), led by No. 9 hitter Marilyn Maas (three hits, two runs scored) and Katlyn Vega (RBI double) to take advantage of some soft Northeast defense for a 7-3 advantage.

But the Vikings surged again in the seventh on Capra's two-run double — her fourth and fifth RBIs of the game, eventually getting the tying run 60 feet away until Farkas' sixth strikeout of the day ended it.

"(Northeast) is very aggressive with inside pitches," Farkas said. "I had my drop curves working in the seventh and that helped at the end."

The nightcap saw Countryside's (18-8) bats a-blazing in the first inning as Makenzie Griffin, Cheyenne Blumberg and Brooke Sharpe staked out a 4-0 lead, then extended the edge to five on a solo shot from Keeley Mayers in the second.

"We had a meeting and we were told to swing at good pitches and make sure every swing counted," Mayers said. "Don't slack off at the plate."

But East Lake starter Samantha Ramasanto allowed two hits the rest of the way while the Eagles' offense slowly recovered.

Home runs from Madison Neuhaus and Diana Rayder (two hits, two RBIs) narrowed the gap, but East Lake (19-7) saw its potential tying run stranded at first base in the seventh.

"This was very stressful," said winning pitcher Stella Preston. "East Lake's a good hitting team and it was hard to mix up my pitches on them. (After two tight losses in the regular season), it was pretty exciting to beat them."

Osceola cruises

SEMINOLE — Maria Kappos and Mackenzie Tolrud each scored two runs as Osceola (14-9) used a balanced attack to defeat Dixie Hollins 10-0 in their Class 6A, District 10 semifinal Wednesday.

The Warriors will play Mitchell in the final. The Mustangs pulled out a 7-4 upset over top-seeded Springstead.

Osceola jumped on Dixie Hollins with two runs in the second inning and three in the third to take a commanding 5-0 lead. The Warriors defense, led by starting pitcher Megan Weisenberg, kept the Rebels at bay.

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Kappos lead off the top of the fifth with a double to center and increased the lead to 6-0 on Tolrud's RBI single. Tolrud would score her second run of the game on a throwing error.

The Rebels were able to put runners on base in the final three innings and made solid contact hits but the ball always seemed to go in the direction of a Warrior defender. Weisenberg was able to get out of a potential jam in the bottom of the fifth with a double play.

The Warriors added a run in the sixth inning off an RBI grounder by Malorie Wallace and two more in the seventh when Hannah Ciatto scored on an RBI double by Lindsey Hall. Hall eventually scored on a throwing error.

Dixie had two runners on base at the bottom of the seventh on back-to-back fielding errors, but Weisenberg retired the final two batters on a strikeout and a pop up.

Spongers survive

NEW PORT RICHEY — Anessa Holes appreciated the early run support, but given the opponent, figured she'd need a little more. Instead River Ridge rode its flyball pitcher and a consummate defense to a 2-1 defeat of top seed Land O'Lakes in the Class 5A, District 8 semifinals.

No. 2 Tarpon Springs (14-7) avoided a similar scenario against host Gulf, overcoming its early deficit for a 3-1 victory. Spongers senior Lindsey White tossed a three-hitter, striking out eight. White's RBI double, a hard groundball that went all the way to the wall, capped the three-run Sponger uprising in the fifth.

River Ridge (16-7) and Tarpon meet for the championship tonight at 7. The Spongers are in the playoffs for the first time since 2004, third time in school history.

While the Royal Knights have made the playoffs 10 years in a row, they were seeded fourth and Land O'Lakes had won 11 straight.

Gulf got on the board early. Haley McCarthy's triple brought in Alicia Boloyan, who had singled. But the Bucs (11-12) only got one hit for the remainder. Tarpon tied it in the first when Kelsey Linn singled, Madison Montgomery bunted her over and Gulf threw a wild pitch.

After a costly dropped third strike, Julie Allen provided the go-ahead single and scored on White's double. White picked up her 15th win and 12th complete game, while raising her batting average above .500.

Correspondents Corey Long and Darek Sharp contributed to this report.