JACKSONVILLE - A dramatic sixth and seventh inning comeback, highlighted by a Caden Brown double, then a Caden Brown snag of the final fly ball of the night, gave the St. Johns Country Day School softball team a come-from-behind 5-4 district 2-1A championship over Christ's Church Academy on Thursday, April 30 at Fort Family Park in Jacksonville. The win gives the Spartans an 11-6 season record with a region playoff berth possible.
"We had a rough middle of the season with a lot of new, young faces, but us seniors stayed with them and made them comfortable along the way," said Brown, a senior left fielder. "As the season progressed, I think they got more and more confident and tonight was the end result. It's been a while that St. Johns has had a district title in softball."
In two regular season meetings between the two teams, Christ's Church has won decisively with scores of 13-3 and 11-6.
In their respective district semifinals, both teams exploded for runs with Christ's Church Academy winning 18-0 over Eagle's View and St. Johns winning 16-1 over First Coast Christian. St. Johns is currently ranked fifth in region 1-1A with University Christian (15-4) top seeded followed by St. Johns Paul II (15-7), North Florida Christian (16-5), Christ's Church Academy (13-6), St. Johns Country Day School (9-6), Peniel Baptist (12-8), Harvest Community (16-8) and Rocky Bayou Christian (10-7) with top eight teams advancing to regions.
"We knew coming in that we would have to play a tough game to beat them," said Spartan coach Joseph Anzalone. "The semifinal wins for both of was not going to be the same here. Tonight, became a pitcher's duel and someone stepping up with great play. Our outfielders; Caden Brown, Mya Orozco and Sofia Mejia, made some great catches on well hit balls."
Christ's Church opened with a double home run second inning to get the score to 3-0, then added one off a double in the fourth with St. Johns only producing one run on a Callie Boggs triple, then a Emery Schneider single.
"We told them to keep playing hard and just chip away," said Anzalone, noting that St. Johns last district title was in the 1990s. "They never lost focus on their jobs at bat and on the field."
In the sixth, down 4-1, St. Johns broke out with a single by Taigen Lebel, a sacrifice bunt from Brown and a single from Ava Money to set up heads up play by Lebel on third with Money getting a throw to second base on a steal attempt to let Lebel sneak across home plate.
"Sometimes you have to take a shot," said Anzalone. "We practice situations like that everyday."
Orozco came up with a running snag of a centerfield fly ball to end the next inning and fuel energy into the Spartan dugout.
"That was big," said Brown. "That got us pumped for the bats."
A walk to Kemp followed by a single by Orozco got an intentional walk to Lebel with Brown smashing an two run double to 4-4 with a long sacrifice fly by Money scoring Brown for the go ahead run, 5-4.
Money came up big in the ensuing inning from her second base spot with a stretched out snag of a hard line drive before Brown ended the game with her dramatic catch in left field.
On the mound, Jia Mei Kemp went the distance with her defense backing up just a one strikeout outing with the two homers.