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Region softball: Sneads rallies past Liberty County
Pirates earn first Final Four trip
BRISTOL — Sneads rallied with four runs in the top of the seventh inning to advance to the Class 2A Final Four with a 5-4 win Tuesday night in the Region 1-2A championship softball game.
The Pirates, 22-8, trailed 4-1 entering their final at-bat, but responded to produce their third straight road win in the region tournament. It resulted in the first Final Four appearance in softball in school history, and came one year after the Pirates had lost in the region championship game.
Sneads batted around in the seventh inning to secure the win. Kayla Kelly had a leadoff single, Karissa Childs walked and one out later Deanne Berry had an RBI single to left. Cambraige Chason’s RBI single made it 4-3 and London Chason singled to center field to tie the game. The Pirates got the winning run on Ashlen Wilson’s two-out double.
“We start eight seniors that started on last year’s team, but we beat a real good team tonight,” Sneads coach Kelvin Johnson said. “It was the first time in 25 years we’ve been there” to the Final Four.
Childs pitched a complete game for the victory. Liberty County took a 3-0 lead in the first inning, but lost cleanup hitter Ashley Black for the rest of the game on what Bulldogs coach Jennifer Sewell termed “a malicious hit” call by the umpire after a collision at third base.
Ashley Sikes had a two-run double in the inning. Liberty County could only produce one more run, on a key hit by Alex Bailey in the fourth inning.
Nonetheless, the Bulldogs nearly gained their first softball Final Four in just the second region championship game in the program’s history. They finished 25-4.
“It was a great year,” Sewell said. “We plan to come back even stronger next year. We finally got a taste of it. We knocked on the door, hopefully next year we can kick it in.”
Region schedule
Results Tuesday of Region 1 championship games, by classification, involving Panhandle schools.
- Class 5A: Niceville 13, Columbia 2.
- Class 4A: Bartram Trail 8, Wakulla 0.
- Class 3A: Florida High 3, Jacksonville Bolles 2
- Class 2A: Sneads 5, Liberty County 4.
- Class 1A: Aucilla Christian Academy 9, Eagle’s View Academy 4.
