Newton shines on Lakewood Ranch’s senior night

Lakewood Ranch High School’s Logan Newton celebrated senior night in style, throwing a two-hit shutout against North Port in a 16-0 softball victory shortened to four innings by the mercy rule on Friday in Lakewood Ranch.

Newton (11-1) struck out six. She helped her cause at the plate, collecting three hits including a homer in the second inning. That was one of four homers hit by the Mustangs. Kinsey Goelz, Avery Goelz and Maddy Yoder accounted for the others.

Lakewood Ranch, which opens the Class 8A-District 8 softball districts as the top seed on Tuesday, produced 14 hits overall. The Mustangs will play Manatee in the semifinals. Palmetto will travel to Sarasota. Both games are 7 p.m.

In other softball district tournaments, Bayshore begins its attempt to return to the state final four on Tuesday against the winner of Monday’s play-in game between Tampa Gibbs and Lakewood. The 7 p.m. game is at Bayshore, which is the top seed in Class 5A-District 11. Southeast, the No. 2 seed, is home Tuesday against Booker, also at 7 p.m.

In Class 7A-District 9, Braden River is the top seed. It will play the winner of a play-in game between Brandon and Tampa Bay Tech on Tuesday at 4 p.m. at Seffner Armwood.

In Class 3A-District 5, No. 4 seed Bradenton Christian and No. 3 Bradenton Christian will face each other on Tuesday at 2 p.m. The game will be at Bradenton Christian.

This story was originally published April 22, 2017 at 12:37 AM with the headline "Newton shines on Lakewood Ranch’s senior night."