Fort Walton Beach’s regular season finale was exactly the kind of test a team wants heading into the playoffs.
- The Lady Vikings outlasted Gulf Breeze 3-2 in 10 innings Tuesday night, pushing their winning streak to seven and getting back to .500 on the year. It took everything they had.
Regulation was a pitcher’s duel between Fort Walton Beach’s Izzy Douglas and Gulf Breeze’s Jessica Jager. No runner reached third base through the first seven innings, let alone scored.
The bats finally stirred in the eighth. A sacrifice bunt from Macy Borgen moved Elyse Heymann to third for the Lady Vikings’ first real scoring chance, but Fort Walton Beach came away empty.
Gulf Breeze pounced in the ninth. Jager singled to score courtesy runner Aubrey Sparkowski and put the Lady Dolphins ahead 1-0. In the bottom half, Douglas laid down a sacrifice bunt that advanced Ansley Cox to third before Ava Blankenship struck out. Anna Abernathy then lifted a ball to the outfield, and with Ryleigh Watts in position to record the out, it looked like Gulf Breeze would escape. Watts dropped the ball, allowing Abernathy to reach first and Cox to score, tying the game.
Gulf Breeze answered again in the 10th. Reese Blankenship bunted, and an error by Douglas allowed courtesy runner Ashlynn Stemcosky to score, putting the Lady Dolphins back in front 2-1. After Ava Gruber and Kennedy Craft were retired, Ally Keown singled, but Sparkowski struck out to end the inning.
Fort Walton Beach responded immediately.
- Heymann doubled to score courtesy runner Meredith Miller and tie the game at 2. Jager was relieved by Stemcosky. Kelsie Hearne then bunted and reached first, and an error by Sparkowski allowed Heymann to come around and score the winning run.
Head Coach Taryn Gray said her team has work to do but believes the pieces are in place for a postseason run.
“We’ve got to keep learning how to trust each other,” Gray said. “We’ve got to make our circle tighter heading into the playoffs. Izzy pitched a phenomenal game, and she continues to be hungry for the ball. So to me, pitching wise, we are playoff ready. In hitting, we have some work to do, but we are going to figure it out. Defense, we’re almost there, we’ve just got to clean it up a little bit.”
Fort Walton Beach finishes the regular season at 12-12 after a 2-10 start, going 10-2 down the stretch to completely flip the trajectory of its season. The Lady Vikings will likely enter their district tournament as the No. 1 seed, with district brackets scheduled for release Thursday. A first-round semifinal matchup with Choctaw appears likely.
“I’m hoping for a little home field advantage being the No. 1 seed,” Gray said. “We won’t know until Thursday, but I am looking forward to seeing what these girls do.”
Gulf Breeze (13-10) hosts Crestview in its season finale Wednesday and will likely enter its district tournament as the No. 3 seed, with a semifinal matchup against Milton expected.
