Columbia gets seeded seventh in Region 1-5A playoffs, will face Deltona
MIDDLEBURG — The bus rides finally caught up with the Tigers.
After knocking off the defending state champs in the District 2-5A semifinals on Tuesday, Columbia again boarded its bus for the hour-long trip to Middleburg on Thursday. On Tuesday, the metaphorical juice was flowing. Pitcher Zoryana Hughes said the bus ride had her and her teammates “hyped up.”
But the next ride east lacked that, according to head coach Cindy Dansby. It showed in the batter’s box for the majority of Thursday’s 2-0 loss to Ridgeview in the district championship.
“We didn’t play the way we can,” Dansby said. “That’s what happens. We got a few little hits… We don’t hit, we don’t score, and we don’t win.
“They were a lot more lively on the bus on Tuesday. They were a lot more up and hyped.”
The Tigers mustered just four hits on the night, with three of those coming in consecutive at-bats in the top of the seventh inning. Hughes led off that frame with a lined single into center field, followed by additional singles from McKenna O’Sullivan and Alexis Blair. But a fielder’s choice outed Hughes at the plate before a Luisa Taylor strikeout and a popup to second base from Kimber Long ended any drama left in the district tournament.
The hits nearly seemed like they’d come eventually against the Panthers (17-6). Columbia put runners aboard in each of the first two innings, with Hughes reaching on an error in the first and catcher Emily Delgado knocking a one-out double in the second. But each time, Ridgeview pitcher Siage Bialek induced ground balls to get out of the jams, leaving the Tigers (16-7) frustrated through the next four innings as Bialek retired 12 straight hitters before the seventh.
Columbia batters did make contact with the ball. A lot. In fact, Bialek finished her complete-game shutout with just three strikeouts. But for every frozen rope hit by the Tigers, there was a Panthers fielder ready for it exactly at the spot they needed to be.
“They were swinging early, to start with,” Dansby said of her team’s at-bats. “Then they were questioning themselves instead of just attacking the ball, attacking their pitch… When you have balls hit, and they go right at people, and they make an out and make a play.”
Even Bialek’s low strikeout total told a story. The strike zone for each team looked to be a bit smaller than normal, with each dugout clamoring for calls they wouldn’t get throughout the night. Hughes managed to end the game with six punch outs, many of those coming on swings and misses.
In fact, Hughes didn’t allow any RBIs off the bats of Ridgeview hitters. Rather, the Panthers took advantage of a pair of errors and a passed ball to score both its runs. With two outs and a runner on first, Hughes fielded a ground ball back to the circle and threw low and wide of Long at first base. After a walk, a passed ball allowed designated player Cynthia Hilton to score from third. Then in the sixth, catcher Haylee McCrea took off for third after a one-out double before a throw from Delgado sailed wide of the bag, pushing McCrea in for the second run.
Now, the Tigers look to regroup for the Region 1-5A playoffs. They were seeded seventh in the FHSAA bracket release Friday, drawing No. 2 seed Deltona (17-4) for a first-round road trip.
Columbia dropped from sixth to seventh following the district tournament, finishing with a 9.878 rating. Middleburg (14-10) jumped the Tigers to sixth despite losing to them in the district semifinals, finishing with a 10.125 rating to get a matchup with No. 3 Fort Walton Beach (17-7, 15.040).
Deltona had a 16.588 rating and is ranked fifth overall in Class 5A. Gulf Breeze (25-0), ranked second in 5A, is the 1-seed with a 20.066 rating and will host No. 8 Clay (12-10, 9.391), while No. 4 Ridgeview (17-6, 12.706) will host No. 5 Ponte Vedra (17-6, 10.676).
Before next Thursday’s playoff game, Dansby said her team needed to learn from its runner-up finish in districts.
“Mentality wise, you have to figure out how to work with whatever’s going on in the game and do what needs to be done,” she said. “Rise above and just do it.”