South Walton advances to Class 3A regional semis

By TINA HARBUCK

Florida Freedom Newspapers

SANTA ROSA BEACH - Perseverance.

South Walton rallied late to pull off a 2-1 victory over Holmes County on Tuesday in the Class 3A regional quarterfinals.

The Seahawks (23-1), playing in the schools' first regional contest, will now host Chipley on Friday in the regional semifinals.

"We stayed with our gameplan," South Walton coach Phil Tisa said. "Persevering is what did it."

Down 1-0 going into the bottom of the sixth inning, the Seahawks connected for three hits to take the lead.

With one out, Caroline Peterson walked and Brittany Jay and Shelby Watson followed with back-to-back singles to load the bases. After another out, Casey Ogden slapped a single up the middle to bring in Peterson and Jay for the game-tying and winning runs.

Watson then shut down the Blue Devils in the seventh with some help from her defense. Leftfielder Caitlin Holliday made a running catch for the first out, then Watson took care of the next two batters herself with strikeouts.

"I was telling myself not to get nervous," Watson said of her thoughts before the final inning. "I tried to keep my cool."

That she did. For the game Watson struck out 11 batters, gave up just two hits and walked one.

Jay and Ogden led the Seahawks attack with two hits each, while Kenner and Watson had the other hits.

"This was just a hurdle tonight," Tisa said. "Everything we do now is another hurdle. But I think we're hitting our stride."

Holmes County      000 100 0-1 2 2

South Walton          000 002 x-2 6 2

W-Shelby Watson. L-Pippin.