Braden River softball rolls to repeat district title

The Braden River High School softball team wasn’t certain who would show up in the opposing dugout in Seffner for the Class 7A-District 9 final on Thursday.

Try as they might, neither coaches nor players could find out if tournament host Armwood had beaten Lennard in the late semifinal on Tuesday.

Turns out, Lennard had sprung the upset.

Turns out, it didn’t matter.

Braden River jumped on the No. 3 seed for five runs in the first and coasted to an 11-0 victory in a game shortened to five innings by the mercy rule.

With the victory, Braden River earns a home game in the regional quarterfinal on Wednesday night against the runner-up from District 10 (either Mitchell or Sunlake).

Ali Yawn (10-1) pitched a one-hitter — a clean single to right in the fourth — and struck out three and walked three. No Lennard player reached third against Yawn.

That wasn’t a problem for the Pirates, who produced six singles in the first inning, including a two-run single by Brooke Farrow. They added three more in the second, capped by Casey Farrow’s two-run triple. Emma Anthony contributed a two-run single in the third, one of her two hits. She finished with three RBIs.

Myah Moy went 3 for 3 with three runs scored, and Lauren Walker added two hits and two runs scored as Braden River (22-5) won its second district title in a row.

Baseball

Braden River 5, Bradenton Chrsitian 2: James Boldin hit a two-run double, and Giancarlo Gamboa added a single and an RBI to lead the host Pirates (15-10) on their senior night. Anthony Cavalier (1-1) earned the win. A.J. Schewe’s two-run triple led Bradenton Christian.

Cardinal Mooney 10, Manatee 7: Reliever Dalton Plattner (5-2) scattered three hits and allowed one run in three innings of work to help the Cougars ruin Manatee’s senior night at G.T. Bray Park in Bradenton. Parker Shanahan led Cardinal Mooney (16-8-1) with a double, triple and four RBIs.

Jakob Jackson and Tommy Hubbard contributed three hits each. Jackson drove in one run and Hubbard had a double.

Rich Averill led Manatee with two hits.

This story was originally published April 28, 2017 at 12:20 AM with the headline "Braden River softball rolls to repeat district title."