Navarre softball falls in 4A regional final

By TRAVIS DOWNEY

travisd@nwfdailynews.com

NAVARRE - Navarre pitcher Jessica Stapleton and the Raiders could taste it.

After falling behind early in Tuesday night's Class 4A regional final, Stapleton had settled into a groove and Navarre had rallied to take a 4-2 lead entering the top of the seventh inning and found themselves one strike away from capturing their fourth regional championship since the 2000 season.

But Stapelon's 3-2 offering just missed its intended location and Baker County leadoff hitter Ashley Curry jumped on the pitch for a two-out, three-run home run that pushed the Wildcats to a 5-4 win.

Curry's home run was her second of the night, as the junior's solo blast in the top half of the third gave Baker County the game's first run.

Curry finished the night 2-for-3 at the plate with two home runs and four RBIs.

Baker County improved to 24-3 on the year with the win while Navarre (19-6) saw its season come to an abrupt end.

"It's pretty tough to swallow right now," Navarre coach Lauris Joyner said. "We knew they could hit. (Curry) is a great hitter, we knew that coming into the game. We made a couple of mistakes on her and she made us pay for it."

Ahead 4-1, Stapleton and the Raiders took the field for the top half of the seventh just three outs from capturing the school's second regional title in three years, but the inning began ominously when Baker County's Krista Smith reached on a throwing error.

Bridgett Williams followed with a single before Caitlin Griffis ripped an RBI single back through the heart of the diamond to cut the Navarre lead in half at 4-2.

Stapleton and the Raiders regrouped to retire the next two batters and after falling behind 2-0 in the count to Curry, ran the count full to the Wildcats junior.

Curry lunged at Stapleton's next offering, getting just enough of the pitch to fist it off into foul territory.

But the next pitch was sent towering over the left-field fence for a game-winning home run that silenced the home crowd.

Wildcat pitcher Tiffany Smith, who had not allowed a Navarre hit until the fourth inning, closed the game with the same efficiency that she had opened it, ending the game with her ninth strikeout.

 "We had the lead," said Joyner.  "A couple of balls fell in for them, we made an error and then ‘boom', the game turned around."

After Curry's first blast put Baker County ahead 1-0, Navarre took the lead in the bottom of the fourth when Smith fell victim to a fielding error and an infield single off the bat of Navarre's Brittany Naker.

Two batters later, Emily Pettigrew reached on a sharply hit single to left field to load the bases for senior catcher Stevie Decker.

Faced with a  full count, Decker roped Smith's next offering into right centerfield for a two-out, two-run single that gave Navarre a 2-1 lead.

From there, Stapleton took over, retiring Baker in order in the fifth with just eight pitches and allowing just one base runner in the sixth. Navarre would add to their lead in the home half of the sixth, when Raiders right fielder Jennifer Bennett slapped a two-out, two-run triple into the left field corner.

"(Jessica) did a great job," said Joyner. "She's done a great job all year long. We just fell a little short tonight."