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Columbia catcher Hayden Gustavson tags out St. Augustine’s Merrick Beamish during Thursday’s District 3-5A championship game. Beamish was ejected for throwing an elbow Toward Gustavson’s face. (JORDAN KROEGER/Lake City Reporter)
Columbia and Suwannee’s baseball teams, as well as Fort White’s softball team, were locks for playoff spots after winning their district titles on Thursday.
Fort White’s baseball team, on the other hand, was left on the bubble after losing to Union County on Wednesday in the district semifinals. That bubble didn’t burst Saturday morning.
Instead, Fort White’s baseball team received the final at-large spot in the Region 3-1A playoffs for its first berth since 2015. Columbia and Suwannee both received the No. 1 seeds in their respective regions, as did Fort White’s softball team.
Here’s a breakdown of each bracket:
NO SURPRISE, COLUMBIA IS NO. 1
Columbia has been the top seed in Region 1-5A all season long and that didn’t change with the reveal of the FHSAA brackets on Saturday. Thanks to their District 3-5A title, the Tigers (19-8) will have home field advantage through the regional playoffs after finishing with the region’s highest rating of 14.244.
First up for Columbia is a district championship rematch on Tuesday at 7 p.m. with No. 8 seed St. Augustine (17-8), which had a 7.950 rating to just edge Escambia (7.693) for the final playoff spot. The Tigers won both meetings this season, taking their regular-season matchup 4-1 on April 25 and then 11-2 in the district title game on Thursday.
The winner then faces of the winner of District 4-5A champion Stanton, the No. 4 seed, and No. 5 seed Mosley on Thursday. Columbia faced Stanton once this season, winning 7-3 on April 29.
Stanton actually had the ninth highest rating in the region at 6.644 but received a top-4 seed by virtue of a district title. Mosley had the second highest rating at 12.578 but fell to No. 5 after losing to Lincoln in the District 2-5A championship.
Lincoln (10-17, 9.690) is the No. 2 seed and hosts No. 7 Choctawhatchee (12-10-2, 8.066). Pine Forest (15-9) finished with the region’s fifth highest rating at 8.736 but won the District 1-5A title to grab the No. 3 seed, setting up a district title rematch with No. 6 seed Gulf Breeze (12-12, 9.528).
NO SURPRISE FOR SUWANNEE EITHER
Just like Columbia, Suwannee was the No. 1 seed in Region 1-4A all season and the bracket reflected that following a District 2-4A title. The Bulldogs (21-4) had a final rating of 17.579 and will host No. 8 seed Baker County (13-12, 7.810) on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Suwannee beat Baker County 10-1 in the teams’ lone meeting on March 25.
The winner then faces the winner of No. 4 Santa Fe, the District 4-4A champion, and No. 5 Clay on Saturday. Clay (17-10, 11.828) had a better rating than Santa Fe (20-6, 11.571) but lost to Bishop Kenny in the District 3-4A championship to fall to 5th.
Suwannee faced Clay once this season, winning 14-2 on April 23.
No. 2 Bishop Kenny (19-6, 14.393) faces No. 7 South Walton (14-10-1, 7.848). District 1-4A champion Arnold is the No. 3 seed and will host No. 6 Wakulla (15-10, 10.921).
FORT WHITE GETS THE FINAL SPOT
Fort White baseball coach Rick Julius admitted his team’s chances weren’t great after losing to Union County in the District 6-1A semifinals on Wednesday. Turns out, the Indians (14-6) got in without a sweat.
Julius’ squad had a final rating of 6.339, well ahead of Hilliard (18-7, 3.916) to take the final playoff spot in Region 3-1A. As the No. 4 seed, Fort White gets a rematch with District 6-1A champion Union County in the regional semifinals on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Union County (14-11) received the No. 1 seed with a rating of 8.217. The Indians lost to the Tigers 6-3 in the district semis and split the two regular-season meetings, losing 6-2 at home on March 3 and winning 2-0 in Lake Butler on April 26.
Lafayette (16-3) had the highest rating in the region at 9.220 but dropped to the No. 3 seed after getting upset by Hilliard in the district semifinals. The result is a road trip to District 5-1A champion Madison County (12-9, 7.191).
The winners play in the regional finals on Friday. Fort White lost its one meeting to Lafayette 4-2 on March 1 and split with Madison County, winning 4-1 at home on April 12 and losing 10-1 in Madison on April 28.
LADY INDIANS GET TOP SEED
Fort White’s softball team received the No. 1 seed in Region 3-1A after winning the District 6-1A title on Thursday. But the Indians got some help when Union County lost to Madison County in the District 5-1A championship.
Union County (17-5) finished the highest rating in the region at 13.505 but fell to the No. 3 seed with the loss, pushing Fort White to the top. The Indians had a final rating of 12.296 and will host No. 4 seed Lafayette (13-6, 11.312) in the regional semifinals on Thursday at 7 p.m., while Union County travels to Madison County (14-9, 11.267) for a rematch.
Lafayette just edged Bell for the final playoff spot, with Bell finishing at 10.880. Hilliard was right behind them at 10.725 and Branford, which made the state semifinals last season, finished sixth at 10.522.
Fort White won two of three meetings with Lafayette this season, most recently coming out on top 5-1 in extra innings in the district semifinals last Tuesday. The regular season saw Fort White win 9-4 in Mayo on March 10 but lose 7-3 at home on April 12.
The Indians are familiar with the other side of the bracket as well, splitting both their meetings with Union County and Madison County this season. The regional finals are scheduled for May 17.