South Walton softball tops Walton

By JARED MACARIN

jaredm@nwfdailynews.com

DeFUNIAK SPRINGS - Before this season, South Walton's softball team found little success on the road in district games.

In fact, the Seahawks had never won a District 1-3A game away from home.

That has all changed this year, however, and South Walton completed a sweep of district road wins on Wednesday with an 11-1 victory over county rival Walton.

"It was a big mental hurdle for us to get over," South Walton coach Phil Tisa said. "I'm very happy with that."

South Walton (11-1, 3-0 district) scored in every inning but the fourth to down the Braves (6-5, 0-2) after earlier wins at Pensacola Catholic and Northview.

The Seahawks never trailed, combining opportune hits on offense with quality defense and pitching.

Brittany Jay led the offensive attack for South Walton, going 4-for-4 with three RBIs and scoring twice. Casey Ogden added three hits and scored three times, while Katheryn Kenner had two hits, an RBI and scored twice.

"We got some timely hits against a pitcher (Devin Richardson) that we have had problems with in the past," Tisa said.

And while the Seahawks were pushing across runs, the Braves found hits against Shelby Watson much harder to come by.

Watson threw five scoreless innings, striking out six and surrendering just four hits. Ogden then came on in relief to pitch the final two innings.

After getting a hit here and there early on, Walton finally broke through in the sixth. Shelbie Standland walked to open the inning and later scored from third base on a double steal.

Shannon Currie led the Braves with two hits, while Shannon Bell, Faith Kennemur and Layla Roberts also had one hit apiece.

"We had a couple crucial errors at the beginning and never recovered," Walton coach Stan Bosenberg said. "They hit the ball when they needed to hit it."

The Seahawks host Northview on Friday, while the Braves travel to Catholic.

South Walton 112 032 2-11 15 1

Walton 000 001 0-1 5 6

W-Shelby Watson. L-Devin Richardson