Softball: Niceville wins Class 5A state championship

CLERMONT - The Niceville softball team’s season long crusade to a state title came to a successful conclusion in Clermont Saturday evening as the Eagles beat Bartow 2-1 to win the Class 5A state championship.

In three trips to the state final four – including a runners-up finish last season – this is the first state softball title for Niceville.

“After leaving last year with a bitter taste in our mouths, the girls made a promise to get back there and win it, and that’s what they did,” Niceville coach Danny Hensley said.

“It’s extremely sweet.”

Great pitching and defense was the key to Niceville’s success against Bartow, as it has been all season.

Jessa Watts started in the circle for Niceville (26-4), and the Eagles jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the second.

Shannon Brinkley (1-for-2, RBI, walk, run scored) led off the inning with a double to left field and Haley Early laid down a sac bunt to advance Brinkley to third base. Carrie Laird drove a ball to third that was mishandled, allowing Brinkley to score to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead.

But Bartow (28-2) would answer immediately, taking advantage of a few errors by the usually stellar Watts. She walked Bartow’s Lizzie Glass, and she advanced to second on an illegal pitch by Watts.

Watts was called for multiple illegal pitches

As Hensley called for freshman Christina Ramirez to relieve Watts, the game was delayed due to severe weather.

After a four and a half hour delay, the teams returned to another, less flooded field in the National Training Center. It was then that Ramirez took over, for Watts with Glass on second base. Glass advanced to third on a wild pitch and eventually scored as Rachel Imig grounded out to second base, knotting the score at 1-1.

With one out in the top of the third, Stephanie Hartness (2-for-3, run scored), Watts (1-for-3) and Kaylan Davis (1-for-3) all singled to load the bases. Brinkley walked to score Hartness and plate what proved to be the game winning run.

“I thought it spoke volumes for our character and our discipline,” Hensley said of his team’s third inning performance. “When the momentum goes away it’s hard to overcome that. This group, they willed themselves to win.”

Ramirez had pitched just 20 innings all season, but allowed only one hit in six innings while striking out three.