One of the first in-county rivalry matchups of the young softball season ended in a resounding win for Key West over Marathon on Feb. 27.
Coming off a blowout in their home opener two weeks earlier, the Fins’ luck ran out Feb. 27 when they headed to Key West to take on the Lady Conchs. Brianna Brenner struck out a dozen Dolphins in Key West’s win. Offensively, the Conchs amassed 12 hits with two apiece from Lucy Katz, Arianna Garcia, Kaleaya Dickerson and Mia Waldner. Chloe Kongos, Kaylee Williams, Charlie Bracher and Lilee Gage accounted for the rest in Key West’s 9-1 win.
The Dolphins held their own for two scoreless innings, but a disastrous third inning led to a nine-run deficit the Fins could not overcome. Dani Perdomo, Anastasia Boose, Maeve Merryman, Trinity McLeod and Elianys Roque all singled and Madelyn Thornton doubled for six Dolphin hits.
Earlier in the month, Marathon enjoyed a 16-1 win in their home opener against Somerset South Homestead on Feb. 13. Boose started in the circle for Marathon, striking out eight, walking one and allowing just two hits and one run in four innings of work. The Fins piled on 10 runs in the first to make a Somerset win very far out of reach. Thornton had a single, double and triple while Merryman hit a pair of singles and Boose tripled and doubled with four RBIs to her credit. Dahlia Westdickenberg, McLeod, Shaina Robinson and Roque accounted for the rest of Marathon’s 11 hits in the mercy-rule victory.
Coral Shores played two games on Feb. 28, beginning with the Gators of Everglades City. The Hurricanes delivered a spectacular display of 28 hits, led by Caylyn Gwilliam, whose four hits and five RBIs included a home run. Also homering were Kayden Costlow, Addison Grady and Alyvia Prince. Costlow had four hits while Grady and Prince smashed three apiece. Presley Bagwell had three hits and four RBIs for the Hurricanes and put in four innings of work in the circle. Bagwell fanned eight, then Mira Jones, who had two hits of her own, stepped in and completed the final inning of the mercy-rule rout.
Game two was against the Community School Seahawks of Naples. Prince pitched seven innings for the Hurricanes, striking out seven, walking one and giving up 11 hits. Jones and Costlow added four hits and a home run each to their stats to lead the scoring for Coral Shores. Chloe Stanley had a single, a triple and a home run, Lily Underwood had three base hits and Vanessa Cawley doubled and homered. The Hurricanes had 23 hits in all to make it 51 in a single afternoon.
