Arnold baseball advances in nail-biter, plus other county playoff scores
LYNN HAVEN — Three Bay County baseball and softball teams competed in the FHSAA region quarterfinals Wednesday night.
Find out the results of each matchup below.
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Arnold baseball 4, Santa Fe 3
A pitching battle between 6-foot-3 Dylan Lovelace, a Santa Fe College commit, and 6-foot-8 Florida commit Eli Blair, went to the wire, before the Marlins clawed their way to a victory.
With Arnold trailing 3-2 and two outs from elimination, Florida commit Cooper Moss took the first pitch he saw in the top of the seventh over the center field wall for a two-run homer for the lead.
Santa Fe had scored two runs in the second inning, but was quickly tied up in the top of the third with Ryan Laymon and Blair RBI singles for Arnold. The Saints added a run in the bottom of the fourth.
The Marlinsadvanced to the Class 4A Region 1 semifinal, where they will host No. 4 seed Wakulla on Saturday.
Marianna softball 6, North Bay Haven 3
A three-run fourth inning proved too much for the Lady Buccaneers to overcome.
Despite the loss, it's the first 20-win season ever for North Bay Haven (20-6), which was averaging nine runs per game led by county home run leader Kaylee Goodpaster (11).
South Walton softball 3, Arnold 1
It took extra innings to decide the matchup between elite pitchers Bre Clark and Ella Troutt.
Scoreless through eight innings, it was a three-run ninth inning that put the Seahawks out of reach. Sophomore Laela Kern scored a run for Arnold, but Troutt, a Georgia commit would close out the inning, ending the Marlins' season at 23-4.
Banji Bamidele is a sports reporter for the Panama City News Herald. He can be reached at abamidele@gannett.com or through X, formerly known as Twitter, @AdebanjiBamide1.
This article originally appeared on The News Herald: FHSAA baseball: Arnold rallies past Santa Fe in Class 4A region quarterfinals
