BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
Host Santa Fe hit a double and a triple to score two runs in the sixth inning and hand the Union County High School softball team a 7-6 loss on April 24.
The Tigers (4-13) went up 3-0 in the first. Leah Clark and Tamia Young drew walks to start the inning, with Clark scoring on a wild pitch. Angela Tucker walked before Leigh Ann Dicks drove in Young on a ground out. Hannah Rivera, who went 2 for 4, then hit an RBI single.
Santa Fe took a 4-3 lead before Union scored two runs in the third. The Tigers loaded the bases on a Tucker double and walks drawn by Young and Hayley Burke. Dicks drove in two runs on a single.
The game was tied until Union took a 6-5 lead in the fourth. Clark hit a leadoff triple and scored on a ground ball by Young.
Union entered the game off a 7-6 loss to visiting Branford on April 20.
Branford, the second-ranked team in the Florida High School Athletic Association’s Class 1A power poll, scored four runs in the fifth and sixth innings, which proved to be the difference.
The Tigers trailed 3-0 before scoring four runs in the third. Rivera drew a walk to lead off that inning, followed by a Clark single. Young hit a double to score both runners. Tucker hit a single before Young scored when Burke reached on an error. Tucker scored on Dicks’ sacrifice bunt, putting Union up 4-3.
Branford opened the top of the fifth with a double and a run-scoring single. The Buccaneers hit two more singles in the inning, with the second scoring a run with two outs.
Trailing 5-4, the Tigers tied the score in the bottom of the fifth. Tucker hit a leadoff single and scored on Dicks’ sacrifice bunt. Union would put two runners on with two outs when Hailey Rivera and Mackenzie Orton walked, but a strikeout ended the inning.
The Bucs scored two runs with two outs in the top of the sixth. The bases were loaded on two singles and an error. Two more errors allowed Branford’s sixth and seventh runs to score.
Clark hit a one-out single in the bottom of the sixth. After stealing second and third, she scored with two outs on Young’s ground out. A strikeout ended the inning.
Clark and Tucker each went 2 for 4, while Young and Dicks finished with three and two RBI, respectively.
Union travels to play Bell on Tuesday, April 25, at 7 p.m. to conclude the regular season.
The Tigers next play in the District 6-1A tournament, which is being hosted by Branford. Union is the third seed and will play second seed Fort White in a semifinal game on Tuesday, May 2, at 5 p.m. If the Tigers win, they’ll play either top seed Branford, fourth seed Bell or fifth seed Lafayette for the championship on Thursday, May 4, at 7 p.m.
