BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Northside Christian Academy took an undefeated record into the Southeastern Christian Conference’s best-of-three championship series, but dropped two games to visiting First Christian of High Springs on May 12.
The Eagles, who lost 11-2 in the first game, held a 6-2 lead in the second game, but couldn’t force a third game in the series, losing 8-6 and finishing the season as conference runners-up.
First Christian (14-4-1) scored 13 of its runs in the two games on errors, passed balls and wild pitches.
Northside (12-2-1) trailed 1-0 in the first game, but evened the score in the bottom of the first. Brylee Gay drew a leadoff walk, followed by a bunt single by Caylee Young. Gay was eventually put out when she tried to advance to third on a fly out, but the Eagles would load the bases on walks drawn by Brook Parrish and Aliyah Crocker. Kaylea King fell behind 0-2 in the count, but took three balls and fouled off two pitches before walking to force a run in.
The Lions, despite having just one hit, scored four runs in the in third, taking advantage of walks, passed balls and wild pitches. All the runs were scored with two outs in the inning, putting First Christian up 5-1.
Northside scored its final run in the bottom of the third. Young drew a leadoff walk, while Briley Parrish reached on an error. The runners advanced on a passed ball, putting Young in position to score on a sacrifice by Crocker.
First Christian had a 6-2 lead before scoring four runs in the fifth. Again, it wasn’t the Lions’ bats that did the bulk of the damage as the inning consisted of two errors and two passed balls/wild pitches.
Pitchers Crocker and Brook Parrish combined to allow just five hits, three of which resulted in runs.
First Christian pitcher Victoria Loehr pitched a complete game, allowing two hits and striking out eight.
In the second game of the series, First Christian (the designated home team) scored two runs in bottom of the first, taking advantage of a single, two errors and a passed ball to go up 2-0.
Northside answered with a big second inning. Crocker drew a leadoff walk, while Gay reached on a bunt single. Crocker was put out at third when King ground into a fielder’s choice, but the Lions committed an error on a Caydance Slayton bunt, which allowed the Eagles to score two runs and make it a 2-2 game.
The inning continued with a double by Gabby Smith and a run-scoring single by Ava Welsh. After the second out, Briley Parrish drove in two runs on a single. An error on the play allowed Parrish to circle the bases and score, putting the Eagles up 6-2.
First Christian’s Corie Wheeler hit a double to lead off the bottom of the third. She stole third and scored on a passed ball, cutting Northside’s lead in half.
Northside had two outs with no one on in the fourth when Brook Parrish kept the inning going with a walk. Crocker singled before Gay walked to load the bases. A strikeout ended the scoring threat.
The Lions found themselves trailing by just one when they scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth. Arabella Blake singled and stole second and third before scoring on a ground out by Loehr. Wheeler singled and stole a couple of bases. Northside committed an error in trying to pick Wheeler off at third, which allowed her to score and make it a 6-5 game.
Northside had no one on with two outs when Brook Parrish singled and advanced to second on an error. She moved to third on a single by Crocker, but was tagged out when trying to score on a wild pitch.
First Christian’s Peyton Gray led off the bottom of the sixth with a walk, followed by a bunt single by Roniyah Bennett. Blake reached on a ground-ball error, which allowed two runs to score. Blake was able to score on the play as well, putting the Lions up 8-6.
Loehr, who pitched another complete game for First Christian, recorded three outs with just seven pitches in the final inning, striking out two of the three batters she faced. She finished with eight strikeouts in all.
Crocker and Brook Parrish had seven of Northside’s 13 hits, with Crocker batting 4 for 4 and Parrish batting 3 for 4.
