District 2-5A: Niceville too much for Mosley

NICEVILLE — Both pitchers came out firing in the District 2-5A softball championship game at Northwest Florida State College Thursday night. It was three-up, three-down through 2 1/2 innings before the wheels fell off for Mosley.

Niceville rolled to a 10-0 win in five innings, and successfully defended its district title.

The teams had traded wins during the regular season, but the Eagles came out ready to play — especially star pitcher Jessa Watts.

Watts allowed just two hits, with one walk while striking out 10. She did not allow a run in either of her tournament starts.

“I’m pretty happy with my performance tonight,” Watts said. “We, all around, hit well. We still need to jump on it earlier in the game, but for the most part we did pretty good. I was pleased.”

The floodgates opened for the Eagles when. Alex Brunson singled and Courtney Adams reached on an error before. Watts drove in both runners with a hard-hit grounder through the infield.

Errors continued to plague the Dolphins (12-13) as they committed four in the third inning, and Niceville (23-4) took full advantage, taking a 7-0 lead before the inning ended.

The Eagles were led offensively by Haley Early (2 for 3, RBI), Stephanie Hartness (2 for 4, RBI and Watts (2 for 4, three RBIs).

Mosley got hits from Aubrey Browne and Jill Johnson.

The game ended in the bottom of the fifth when Watts drove in Hartness for the Eagles’ 10th run.

Mosley coach Brian Wilke knew his team would need to play well to come away with the win.

“We couldn’t make many mistakes,” Wilke said “and we had to have a few things go our way, and that didn’t happen tonight. They were definitely the better team and we didn’t give much of a performance.”

Niceville earned home-field advantage in regional play and will play the runner-up from District 1-5A. Mosley will face the winner on the road.