Gulf Breeze softball upsets Fort Walton Beach in region semifinals | AREA ROUNDUP

Just two area softball teams remain alive after Tuesday's slate of games.

Outside of Pace dominating Niceville, Gulf Breeze took a narrow victory at Fort Walton Beach.

Here's a roundup of area contests that happened on Tuesday, May 14.

See your team's scores or stats missing? Be sure to update MaxPreps regularly, or report scores to sports reporter Ben Grieco at bgrieco@gannett.com. This will be updated as more results are posted.

Softball

Gulf Breeze 2, Fort Walton Beach 1: Third time's the charm for the Dolphins.

After dropping the last two games against Fort Walton Beach by two runs or less, the Dolphins got some much-needed revenge over the Vikings in the region semifinals on the road.

The Dolphins got on the board early with a run in the first and second innings, holding on in the low-scoring contest. Fort Walton Beach erased the shutout with a run in the bottom of the sixth, but stranded runners in the bottom of the seventh, propelling Gulf Breeze to victory.

Jacey Reed had a pair of hits, including a double, with an RBI for the Dolphins. Leila Ammon also had a two-hit night. Kylie Reed and Kenna King both posted singles.

Taylor Keown and Reese Blankenship both plated one run each, while Sydney Hersom tallied an RBI.

Ammon threw a complete game, striking out seven batters in seven innings. She surrendered just two hits, an unearned run and three walks.

Gulf Breeze (16-9), the third seed in Region 1-5A, gets to host the region final on Friday against fourth-seeded Gainesville, which upset No. 1 Middleburg in the other region semifinal.

Holmes County 7, Northview 2: Northview head coach Amy Holland got her team huddled up after a tough loss to Holmes County in the Region 1-1A final.

She held up eight fingers, representing how many teams were still playing in Class 1A entering Tuesday night. Then Holland put down four of her fingers, noting there were now just four teams left in the state of Florida in the class. The Chiefs weren't one of them, but Holland told her team they "should be proud" of being one of the last eight.

"The good thing about us is we're stacked with ninth- and 10th-graders that will be back next year. We'll be tougher and stronger than ever next season. This is not an end. This is just the beginning," Holland said after the game. "We've still got several more years."

For awhile, it was anyone's game. Holmes County plated two runs in the first inning before Northview tied the game with a run in the second and third frames. Mary Clayton Dawson hit an RBI single up the middle of the field, scoring Makayla Golson, who had reached on a walk prior. In the third inning, Chloe Ragsdale ripped an RBI double to deep right field and scored Jamison Gilman, who singled just one at-bat before.

From there, the Blue Devils took over in. It wasn't until the fifth inning they were able to break the tie with an RBI double. Then with some untimely errors, the Blue Devils added three more runs in the sixth frame and one more in the seventh.

Northview's bats just didn't have an answer, and when the Chiefs did, they couldn't get a player home.

"Tonight, errors ate us up a little bit. I think nerves got to our girls a little bit. Other than that, our outfielders played a good game. Our infield played good at times," Holland said. "We've just got to learn to execute."

Dawson led the Chiefs with two hits and an RBI. Ragsdale doubled with an RBI. Riley Brooks also had a hit. Gilman and Golson both plated a run.

Gilman threw 6.2 innings at the pitcher's circle, striking out two batters. She surrendered 13 hits, five runs (four earned) and a walk. Mikayla McAnnally, in 0.1 innings, allowed two runs and two walks.

Northview finishes the season with a 22-5 overall record, its best season since 2019 when the Chiefs went 20-5, ultimately falling in the region final that year, too.

"This is a great, big learning lesson because I have four starting ninth-graders," Holland said, noting she had just two seniors starting on the field and one junior; the rest are freshmen and sophomores. "I think we're going to learn a lot from it. Most of these girls play travel ball together, so we're good."

Wakulla 2, West Florida 1: The Jaguars fell in a heartbreaker at Wakulla in the Region 1-4A semifinals.

West Florida initially opened the scoring with a run in the top of the second inning, quickly matched by Wakulla in the bottom of the third. The War Eagles plated the game-winning run in the bottom of the fifth and held on for the win.

Stats for West Florida were not reported.

The Jaguars' season ends with a 17-12 record in the Region 1-4A semifinals.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Gulf Breeze softball beats Fort Walton Beach in one-run contest