This week marks the midway point for prep softball regular-season play, and Keys teams experienced a variety of competition leading up to their breaks.
Coral Shores played one game, a March 10 home contest against Somerset South Homestead. Despite defeating South Homestead in their first game of the season, the Lady ’Canes came up short this time. Alyvia Prince was the heavy hitter for Coral Shores, racking up four hits in five at-bats. Vanessa Cawley and Chloie Stanley had three hits apiece, as did Kayden Costlow, who also added five RBIs to her stats. Prince pitched seven innings, striking out seven and walking four in the 18-14 loss.
Marathon started last week off with a loss against St. Brendan, then turned things around as they headed into spring break. The Lady Fins were outhit by the Sabres 17-6, resulting in a 17-7 loss. Shaina Robinson, Elianys Roque and Trinity McLeod had two base hits each in the March 9 home matchup.
Two days later, it was a different story. It took the Dolphins just three innings to dispatch the Royal Lions of La Salle. Marathon picked up 14 runs despite logging just four hits. Ten walks and six hit batters helped boost the Dolphins’ score and Ana Boose shut down the Lions, pitching a three-inning no-hitter and striking out four in her abbreviated time in the circle. Boose and Madelyn Thornton doubled while Trinity McLeod and Dahlia Westdickenberg singled in the mercy-rule win.
It was more of the same at Carrollton the following afternoon, where the Fins played five innings to the team’s second mercy-rule win of the week. Boose logged three hits while Chloe Rodriguez, Sara Robinson and Elianys Roque added two apiece. A triple from Thornton accounted for the final of the Fins’ 10 hits. Finicky plate appearances led to 13 walks and three more batters were struck before Marathon scored 17 runs to the Cyclones’ zero. Eighth grader Sutton Sayer got the start for the Dolphins, striking out two over five innings.
Key West held on to a winning record despite a two-game slide last week. The Raiders of Santa Fe made good on their name when they stole a pair of wins from the Conchs on March 13 and 14. Santa Fe’s bats were on fire while the Conchs struggled offensively, collecting just five hits in game one. Lilee Gage doubled and Maicee Gage, Kaleya Cervantes, Aaliyah McLeod and Shylo Sanchez had one hit each in the loss. Brianna Brenner struck out four, walked one and gave up 11 runs in seven innings of work in the 11-1 loss.
Game two saw even fewer Conch hits, with Lucy Katz registering a double for the team’s only offensive knock. Brenner and Ryleigh Harnish shared time in the circle, but despite allowing fewer hits, the highly-ranked Raiders and their rapid-fire bats were too much for the Conchs, who lost 8-2.
A second March 14 game against John Carroll Catholic made for a happier ending to the week. Brenner fanned eight, walked zero and gave up two hits in a 5-0 shutout win. Kaleaya Dickerson logged two hits and McLeod, Cervantes, Katz, Arianna Garcia and both Gage sisters added one each for a team total of eight. A perfect defense added to the win, putting the Conchs at 5-4 on the season.
