Fort Walton Beach rallies past Lady Dawgs (with photos)

CRESTVIEW – It took a while, but the Fort Walton Beach softball team finally got their bats going against Crestview in District 2-5A play.

Through four innings the Vikings had just two hits and were scoreless against Bulldog pitcher Elizabeth Bass and trailed 2-0.

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But the last three innings were another story as Fort Walton Beach pounded out nine hits and scored eight runs to pull away with an 8-3 win.

The Vikings (8-2, 2-2) came out swinging in the fifth inning and touched Bass for five hits and three runs.

With one out Rachael Dehlinger and Jennifer Phillips had back-to-back singles. But the big blow of the inning was a two-run single by Jaime Phillips to clear the bases and tie the game.

Lauren Correia followed with a single to score Jaime Philips and give the Vikings the lead.

The upset minded Bulldogs (1-8, 0-4) grabbed the lead in the first inning when Sara Cadenhead singled and later scored on a Jacey Sanders double.

Lauren Estep extended the Crestview lead to 2-0 in the third inning when she singled and later scored on a Dehlinger wild pitch.

The Bulldog had five hits through the first three innings, but could only touché Dehlinger for three hits the rest of the way.

By the time Crestview scored its final run in the home half the seventh the Vikings had put up a five spot in the top of the inning to put the game out of reach.

Fort Walton Beach coach Andrea Browning credited her hitters for persevering in the early going while they figured out what Bass was doing.

“They just really made the adjustments at the plate and came out swinging the bat hard and we found some holes,” she said. “We like to hit the ball and they just needed to make the adjustments to make it happen.

“They did what the needed to do.”

In their five-run seventh the Vikings made the most of three hits.

Savannah Henley had a RBI single in the seventh to score Jaime Phillips who had walked. But the big blow of the inning was a two-run double off the bat of Brandee Reyna with the base loaded that scored Henley and Ashley Enzer.

Cadenhead scored the final Bulldog run on a Megan Goshorn double. Cadenhead reached base on a Viking error.

Bulldog coach Amy MacNicol tried to be upbeat in the loss.

“I’m proud of them (the Bulldogs0 for coming out and jumping them (Fort Walton Beach) early,” she said. “We’ve just got to stick together.
We played good defense, but they just hit the ball.”