BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
Keystone Heights Junior High School’s softball team was swept by Lake Butler during the regular season, but the Indians got the win that mattered the most, defeating the Tigers 13-6 in Fort White on April 22 to win the Suwannee Middle Athletic Conference championship.
“They came out and brought their A game when they needed it the most,” Keystone Coach Lisa Cisco said.
It was a game of offensive and defensive highlights, Cisco said. She talked of Xana Briley making an “amazing” catch in right field for an out truly needed and Jenna Lee recording the final out when she caught a line drive at second base. She also mentioned how the leading hitters consisted of Lee, Tayler Buchanan, Audry Cisco, Kaleigh Marquart, Riley Shuford, Schiley Starling and Chloe Still, but added, “Everybody brought the hits when we needed them.”
Audry Cisco got the start in the circle, while Alee Horton came in to finish it out.
“All in all, all of our girls did amazing,” Coach Cisco said. “They all contributed in some way or another.”
Keystone (7-6) lost twice to Lake Butler during the regular season. The Indians were leading in the second, but Cisco said the team committed some errors that helped Lake Butler rally for the win.
“The girls knew they could beat them,” Cisco said. “They just had to believe they could beat them.”
The Indians built an early lead in the SMAC championship game. When Lake Butler began scoring runs midway through the game, Keystone’s players didn’t panic. They closed out the game in strong fashion.
Cisco said it was the team’s best performance offensively and defensively this season. In fact, a player’s mother asked her what she put in the pizza that she fed the team before the game.
“Nothing, that I know of,” Cisco said with a laugh. “They just came to play. They decided they wanted the championship. They were determined to get it.”
The two games Keystone played against Williston during the regular season proved to be a key factor in this season’s success, Cisco said. She said her team dominated Williston in the first matchup, but then lost 10-9 in the second game.
“They went in with a big head, thinking they were going to dominate and beat a team,” Cisco said. “They ended up making silly errors. Williston came back and beat us 10-9.
“We had a lot of conversations with them and just explained to them that we go in with a clear head, no matter what. We never give up. We fight until the end.”
In other words, play your best and take nothing for granted, which seems to be exactly what the Indians did in winning the SMAC.
“It’s been a great season,” Cisco said. “The kids put in a lot of effort. They worked really hard.”
Next season could be special as well as the Indians lose just four eighth-graders: Lee, Starling, Still and Alyssa Wagner.
