Tate Lady Aggies Win District 1-7A Softball Championship
April 21, 2015
The Tate High School Lady Aggies won the District 1-7A softball championship Monday night 6-4 over Niceville.
In the fifth inning, Tate’s Casey McCrackin hit a three-run homer, followed by a home run from Savannah Rowell. Tate hitters were Casey McCrackin 1-3, 2R, 3 RBI; Savannah Rowell 1-3, R, RBI; Tori Perkins 1-4, 2 RBI; Lauren Brennan R; Hadley Starratt R; Savannah Ulrich R.
The Tate Lady Aggies will play host to Tallahassee Lincoln at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the regional quarterfinals.
Northview Assistant Coach Headed To Tennessee
April 21, 2015
Northview High School assistant football coach Derek Marshman has announced that he’s headed to a new job in Tennessee.
Marshman has been named an assistant coach at Signal Mountain High School just outside Chattanooga. There, he will join the school’s new head coach, Ty Wise. Marshman and Wise were part of the coaching staff that led the Northview Chiefs to a state football championship in 2012. Wise departed in 2013 to take the head coaching job at Graceville.
Marshman will remain at Northview through the end of the school year before moving to Tennessee with his family, including his wife Brittany, a teacher at Byrneville Elementary School.
“It was a great opportunity for my entire family,” Marshman said Monday night. “We visited this past weekend for the first time, and it was just beautiful up there. The entire town just blew us away.”
Marshman said he will miss the Northview Chiefs, which he predicted will do great things this fall.
“There’s a really good group of juniors moving up as leaders. Northview will have a very strong team this fall.”
Pictured top: Northview assistant coach Derek Marksman (center) is resigning and taking a job in Tennessee. Pictured inset: Marshman reacts to the Chiefs falling behind during a home game. Pictured below: Marshman calls a play. NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
Blue Wahoos At Smokies Rained Out
April 20, 2015
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos’ series finale against the Tennessee Smokies was postponed on Sunday due to rain. The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader in Pensacola on Wednesday, May 6th beginning at 5:30 p.m.
Pensacola hosts Tennessee next month on May 5-9. This is the third game postponed due to rain for the Blue Wahoos this season.
The Blue Wahoos travel to Birmingham to face the Barons in a five-game series with the opening game scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Monday night. Scheduled to take the mound is RHP Robert Stephenson (0-1, 4.76) for Pensacola and RHP Frankie Montas (0-0, 1.69) for Birmingham.
The Blue Wahoos return home to Pensacola Bayfront Stadium on April 25 against the Biloxi Shuckers.
Four In A Row: Jay Lady Royals Win 12-Inning District Championship Battle
April 17, 2015
The Jay Lady Royals won their fourth District 3-1A championship in a row Thursday night 7-6 in a hard fought 12-inning battle over the Chipley Tigers.
Hitting for Jay were: Kolby Bray 3-5, R; Emily Dobson 3-6, R, 2 RBIs, 2B; Avery Jackson 2-6, RBI, 2B; Destiny Herring 2-5, R; Samantha Steadham 2-6, R, RBI.
The Lady Royals advance to the Region 1-1A playoffs on April 28.
Pictured: The Jay Lady Royals won their fourth District 3-1A championship in a row Thursday night. Photo by Diann Tagert for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Defending State Champ West Florida Drops Close District Final Game
April 17, 2015
The defending 4A state champion West Florida Lady Jaguars lost to the Walton Braves 2-1 in the District 1-4A championship game Thursday.
The Lady Jags took a 1-0 lead, but gave up two unearned runs in the third inning. Farrah Nicholas pitched six for West Florida, striking out two. Emily Loring and Kayla Miller were both 1-3.
As district runner-ups, the Lady Jaguars are still in the playoffs. They will travel to Tallahassee next Thursday to play 2-4A champion Florida High School.
Pictured: West Florida drops District 1-4A championship game to Walton Thursday. Photos by Gary Carnley for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Escambia Academy Wins Boys Track State Championship
April 17, 2015
The Escambia Academy boys track team won the 3A AISA State Championship held in Selma, AL. Escambia Academy is located in Canoe, AL, just outside Atmore. NorthEscambia.com photo by Ditto Gorme, click to enlarge.
Tate, Jay Advance In Baseball Districts; Tate Baseball Beats Pace
April 16, 2015
SOFTBALL DISTRICT PLAYOFFS
District 1-7A
Tate 9, Crestview 0
The rain held off long enough for the Tate Lady Aggies advance to the District 1 -7A championship game by defeating the Crestview Bulldogs 9-0 on Wednesday night at Niceville High School.
Tori Perkins led with way with a strong performance on the mound by throwing another no hitter and striking out 13. Lauren Brennan blasted a 2-run homer in the sixth to help solidify the win. Savannah Rowell had 3 RBI and a run; Perkins had three RBI; Hayden Lindsay was 2-3 with two runs and a triple.
The Lady Aggies (21-4) advance to the championship game Friday at Niceville at a time to be determined based upon weather.
District 3-1A
Jay 16, Freeport 6
The Jay Royals advanced to the 3-1A district championship with a 16-6 win over Freeport in the semifinals Wednesday. Jay exploded in the fifth with 12 runs. Avery Jackson 3-3, 2R, 4 RBIs 2B; Kolby Bray 2-4, 2R, 3RBIs; Dana Blackmon 3-5, 2R, RBI; Michaela Stewart 2-5, R, RBI, 2B.
BASEBALL
Tate 6, Pace 3
Tate beat Pace Wednesday, 6-3. Trace Penton 1-4, RBI; Hunter Worley 2-2, 3 RBI; AJ Gordon RBI; Branden Fryman 1-3; Mark Miller 1-3, Sawyer Smith 1-2.
Softball Districts: West Florida Wins, Northview Out
April 15, 2015
The West Florida Lady Jaguars beat Marianna in a late game Tuesday night in the first round on the District 1-4A playoffs. Weather permitting, the Lady Jags will play for the district championship at 6 p.m. Thursday against Walton. Walton is coming off a 6-2 win over Catholic Tuesday.
For West Florida, Breana Rogers was 1-2, Kayla Miller was 2-4, Kristin Gunter was 2-12 with a double and two RBI, Meagan Freeman was 1-3 with a double and two RBIl, Emily Loring was 2-3, and Lauren Carnley was 2-3.
District 1-4A
Tuesday (at Marianna)
Walton 6, Catholic 2
West Florida 4, Marianna 2
For a photo gallery from West Florida over Marianna, click here.
Thursday
West Florida at Walton, 6 p.m.
District 3-1A
Tuesday (at Freeport)
Holmes County 5, Baker 3
Freeport 4, Northview 3
Wednesday (at Freeport)
Chipley vs. Holmes County, 4p.m.
Jay vs. Freeport, 6 p.m.
Friday
3-1A Championship Game, 6 p.m.
Pictured: West Florida beats Marianna in Marianna late Tuesday night. NorthEscambia.com photos by Gary Carnley, click to enlarge.
Three-Run Blast Lifts Wahoos Over Biloxi
April 13, 2015
Kyle Waldrop erased three games of Pensacola Blue Wahoos hitting misery with one giant stroke.
The first baseman lofted a high-arching, three-run home run that gave the Wahoos its first lead, 3-0, of the five game series against the Milwaukee Brewers’ new Double-A franchise, the Biloxi Shuckers. The runs in the bottom of the first inning matched what Pensacola had scored in its previous three games.
It was one of only two hits by Pensacola, which snapped its three game losing streak to Biloxi with a rain-shortened 4-0 victory, although the grounds crew worked to keep the field dry throughout the drizzly day.
Waldrop, the Cincinnati Reds No. 14 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, showed an impressive bat in Spring Training with the Reds. In 12 games, the left-hander hit .273 with one homer and five RBIs.
So far this season, he has continued to swing the bat well. He’s hitting .273 with the homer and three runs-batted in. Last year, he came up to Pensacola with a handful of High-A Bakersfield Blaze mid-season and hit .315 with eight homers and 35 RBIs.
Waldrop said in Sunday’s six-inning game, he was just trying to move the runners on first and second up a base.
“It started off pretty fair and then kept slicing down the line,” he said. “I’m glad it stayed fair. It was a good feeling. Hopefully, now our bats will wake up a little bit.”
Manager Pat Kelly said Waldrop’s homer was a key to the game, even taking pressure off of starter Wandy Peralta, who was making his Double-A debut.
“Kyle was one of the few guys who came up from Bakersfield and didn’t miss a beat,” Kelly said. “It was really clutch. It allowed Peralta to relax a little bit.”
In his debut, Peralta threw five scoreless innings, giving up three hits, two walks and striking out three. Last year, Peralta was 7-12 with a 4.82 ERA for High-A Bakersfield.
He knew coming in that Biloxi was leading the Southern League in hitting with a .326 average and 18 runs, including one home run in three games against Pensacola.
“I knew they were having a real good series against us,” Peralta said through translator and starting catcher Yovan Gonzalez. “I just trusted every single pitch I threw. I wanted to just kill it.”
The Biloxi Shuckers, who open the year on a 55-game road trip while they await construction of their stadium, sent a fourth straight top-rated prospect to face the Blue Wahoos lineup Sunday. This time it was right-hander Jorge Lopez, Milwaukee Brewers’ No. 15 prospect according to Baseball America.
But Waldrop jumped on him in the bottom of the first inning and Pensacola capitalized on six walks by Lopez to get its first victory of the season.
The final game of the five-game series with the Milwaukee Brewers Double-A affiliate Biloxi Shuckers is scheduled at 6:30 p.m. Monday. RHP Marcus Walden takes the mound for the Wahoos and is scheduled to be opposed by the Shuckers RHP Jacob Barnes.
Blue Wahoos Lose Third Straight; Time Clock Added To Double-A Baseball
April 12, 2015
Pensacola Blue Wahoos starting pitcher Tim Adleman said he didn’t even notice the two 2-foot by 5-foot clocks on either side of the dugouts.
Third baseman Seth Mejias-Brean had a hard time seeing base balls hit by the Biloxi Shuckers because of the glare off the clocks.
All Double-A teams in the Southern League began using a clock for the first time Saturday to speed up a game that averaged 2 hours, 43 minutes in 2005 and 8 minutes more in 2014.
Last night, that meant the Blue Wahoos dropped their third straight game to the Biloxi Shuckers, 7-2, in 2 hours and 41 minutes.
In some instances, the new time-saving measures that allows 20 seconds between pitches and 2 minutes, 25 seconds between innings, could shave anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes from America’s pastime, baseball experts have said. For the first month, there will be no penalties enforced, such as assessing a pitcher a ball, if he fails to throw his pitch in time.
Adleman said he’s not sure what the effect of a clock will be on a game that’s never had one.
“Will it speed up the game and engage young fans or blow up too much and never work?” asked Adleman, who took the loss after leaving the game behind, 3-1, in the sixth inning. “Honestly, I did not notice (the clocks) at all. I was so focused on hitting my spots and getting out there and getting in a good rhythm.”
The first three games of the opening season series and the Blue Wahoos have managed three runs on 13 hits against Biloxi’s top-flight pitching staff. They are hitting just .153 against the Shuckers.
Pensacola’s Jesse Winker, at least, snapped his 0-7 slump with a single and double in four at bats. However, he was left on third base both times.
Kelly said he’s not worried about Winker or his other hitters in the middle of the lineup.
“I don’t worry about how Winker is hitting ever,” Kelly said. “I feel pretty comfortable with (Marquez Smith, Mejias-Brean and Kyle Skipworth). It didn’t work tonight and hasn’t worked so far this season. But I like my chances with those three guys.”
Adleman entered the game looking for his first Wahoos win as a starter after getting six starts the previous year. He was 0-3 with a 2.38 ERA in 2014.
After a shaky start in which he gave up three runs on seven hits in the first two innings, including muffing a bunt hit right to him that ended up costing him two runs, Adleman settled down. He allowed just three hits over the next four innings, benefitting from two double plays. On the night, Adleman allowed 11 men on base but left the game after six innings with Pensacola trailing, just 3-1.
One of the biggest Shuckers at the plate? Shortstop Orlando Arcia, the Brewers’ No. 2 prospect, has torn up Pensacola pitching, hitting .583, going 7-12 with two doubles, a triple, four runs scored and five runs batted in.
The fourth game of the five-game series with the Milwaukee Brewers Double-A affiliate Biloxi Shuckers is scheduled at 4 p.m. Sunday. LHP Wandy Peralta takes the mound for the Wahoos and is scheduled to be opposed by the Shuckers RHP Jorge Lopez.