On Wednesday afternoon in Gainesville, the Countryside Christian School (CCS) softball team faced its toughest competition of the season.
Although the host Minutemen were within two runs after two innings, and three runs after three, visiting Providence (Jacksonville) would not be denied.
The No. 2 seed Stallions scored 14 runs over the final three innings for a 16-5 victory in five innings against the No. 7 seed Minutemen in an FHSAA Class 2A-Region 1 Quarterfinal.
“They were a pretty solid team, and honestly we don’t play teams like that in the regular season,” said first-year CCS head coach Marisha Neal (Coach Reese). “Maybe we should add them to do a better job, but the regular season did not help us for this game so honestly, we weren’t prepared for their pitching. Fielding wise, errors, that was all on us, but they were solid.”
Providence got a big game at the plate and in the circle by Elle Burns, who struck out six of the first nine batters that she faced.
She also drove in five runs with a three-run home run to left field in the third inning and a two-run double down the third base line in the fourth as the Stallions (10-12) built an 11-3 lead in the fourth inning.
Countryside Christian, which made its first postseason in seven years, never gave up.
After falling behind 6-0 heading into the bottom of the third inning, the Minutemen responded by scoring three runs.
Sophomore Vanessa Colon was credited with a hit on a ground ball to second base that got past the Stallions’ Kayleigh Cardona and then past right fielder Ava Conley, which scored senior Alison Scarborough (2-for-3, 2 RBI, RS) and sent Colon to third.
Freshman Riley Keith singled to center field, but the ball got past center fielder Tessa Eckert, allowing Colon to score and Keith, who was credited with a home run on the play.
That made the score 6-3.
“I’m very proud of them because we are a younger team, so them still having that fight without me having to shake the cage or anything, I’m definitely proud of. We’ve just got to work on starting earlier,” Reese said.
The Minutemen (9-5) found themselves down 16-4 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning but plated a run on an RBI single by Scarborough, who was one of three seniors in the starting lineup.
“I think we played really hard,” said senior third baseman Gabriella Colon, who has played at CCS since sixth grade. “I think we came into it trying to give it our all. We were confident. We had courage. It’s a sad loss but we made it this far and we deserved it.”
CCS starting pitcher Kayley McLeod, who had an RBI single in the fourth inning, pitched all five innings. The eighth grader allowed 10 hits but just seven earned runs with six walks and three strikeouts.
“We came into this season with a lot of young girls,” Colon said. “We thought it would go by with a lot of losses, but we practiced really hard and every game we played we played with a lot of intensity, and it got us a lot of wins…we’re glad we made it this far and we made history.”
Despite the season-ending loss, the future is bright for the Minutemen, who started two sixth graders, an eighth grader, a freshman and a sophomore, and won a district title and qualified for the state playoffs under a first-year coach.
“As long as we stay together, I think we’ll be pretty solid,” Reese said. “It’s just been unexpected because we didn’t go into the season expecting to win a district title. We’re young. Our job is to get better and that’s what we were aiming for, and it just came together quicker than we expected which, obviously we have a lot of growing to do, but I’m for all it.”
