KISSIMMEE – The final day of the 27th Annual Kissimmee Klassic had mixed results for area teams, as Mother Nature prematurely ended the tournament before it was officially done.
Oakleaf and Bartow were scheduled to meet in the Blue Division title game but never took the field thanks to numerous lightning delays.
After multiple lightning delays and facing a potential coin flip to decide the winner, both Bartow and Oakleaf coaches agreed to move the title game to April 17 at Oakleaf.
To get to the title game, Oakleaf first had to get through Cooper City in the semifinals surviving a 4-2 battle.
Senior pitcher Madi Davis went the distance striking out seven, walked five and gave up four hits and two earned runs to get the win.
Baylee Goddard tripled and scored on Kaylee Lambrecht RBI single to give Oakleaf a 1-0 lead in the first.
Davis got into a jam in the second as the Cowboys got two runners on with one out, but got out of it with a strikeout and pop up.
Jadrianna Serrano 2 RBI double scored Jaycie Brookshire and pinch runner Madi McDaniel for a 3-0 lead in the third.
The Cowboys cut into the lead with a single run in the bottom of the third and then another run in the fourth to cut the lead to 3-2 through four.
Goddard singled to lead of the fifth, stole second and scored on a pass ball to give Davis some breathing room with a 4-2 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth.
Davis retired the side in order in the fifth, survived a lead off single in the sixth retiring the side after that and a runner on second in the seventh with one out before getting a fly out and a strikeout to end it.
Leading the Knights were Goddard (3-4, Serrano (1-4, 2 RBI), Brookshire (1-1), Lambrecht (1-3), Davis (1-3), McDaniel (1-1) and Jasmine Lamug (1-3)
Oakleaf (16-1) takes the week off after a grueling week before returning to the field again April 13 in Gainesville to play a doubleheader with Lakewood Ranch and host Gainesville.
West Nassau takes fourth
Trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh, West Nassau had the top of the lineup coming up with a chance to likely tie or win it.
Unfortunately they never got the chance as lightning moved in and took over causing a lengthy weather delay.
After a meeting with umpires, the game was called and Cooper City declared the winner and third place in the Blue Division, while West Nassau had to settle for fourth place.
To get to the third place, West Nassau first had to survive a showdown with Bartow earlier in the day.
Through four innings, West Nassau was cruising along ahead 5-2 before a late innings collapse helped Bartow stun them 6-5 in the semifinals.
The Warriors jumped on the Yellow Jackets early with a single run in the first to take a 1-0 lead after one.
Madison Dixon singled in Hope Epps, who led off the inning with a single for a quick 1-0 lead.
The Warriors added to their lead in the third as Courtney Hengerer doubled in Bailey Studt and Dixon for a 3-0 lead after three.
Bartow woke up in the fourth erupting for two runs thanks to a Sadie Sinson 2 RBI double cutting the lead to 3-2 in the fourth.
West Nassau answered in the bottom half of the fourth though as Epps and Hickox both knocked in runs scoring Megan Kroger and Trinity Armstrong to put the Warriors ahead 5-2 after four.
The Yellow Jackets answered with two of their own in the top of the fifth to cut the lead to 5-4 thanks to four walks and a single.
While the Warrior bats went cold, the Yellow Jackets kept swarming and tacked on two more in the sixth to take a 6-5 lead thanks to a single from Emily Ruley and a double from Mari Stevens.
The Warriors were led by both Epps (2-4, 1 RBI) and Dixon (2-4), as they accounted for four of the nine hits.
West Nassau (11-8) hosts Suwannee Monday and travels to Hilliard Tuesday this week.
Keystone Heights takes fourth
Playing its second game of the day, Keystone Heights gave it everything it had but came up short 2-1 to St. Pete Canterbury in the third place game of the Gold Division.
No stats were available as of press time.
In the semifinals, Keystone Heights got down early yet still was in it before a three run seventh helped Tate advance with a 5-0 win in the Gold Division.
Freshman pitcher Maddi Mitzel went the distance for the Indians striking out two, walking one, while giving up 12 hits and three earned runs to earn the loss.
Tate scored single runs in the second and sixth inning to take a 2-0 lead then put it away with a three run seventh.
The Indians managed only five hits off Aggies starter Abbie Burks, who struck out two and walked none.
Leading the Indians was Kiley Channell (1-3), Emma Rogel (1-3), Ashton Ludwig (1-3), Savannah Channell (1-3) and Isabella Woodell (1-3).
Keystone Heights (12-6) hosts arch-rival Bradford Tuesday in a District 5-5A game and travels to Newberry on Thursday for another 5-5A game.
Matanzas 6, Okeechobeee 5
The Pirates finished the weekend 2-2 after rallying from behind to knock off Okeechobee 6-5 in their final game of the tourney.
Down 5-4 in the bottom of the seventh, the Pirates stunned the Brahmans after a solo homerun from Alyssia Paiz and a walkoff RBI single from Alexia Moy, which scored pinch runner Kadrianna Grinstead.
Early on it looked like the Pirates late game heroics wouldn’t be needed as the Pirates jumped out to 3-0 after two innings.
Paiz and Ellie Hansen knocked in a pair of runs as Lovie Haley and Emma Wood scored to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead after one.
Alyssa Payne singled in Nikolena Perrine to extend the lead to 3-0 in the second inning.
Wood did her best to keep the Brahmans off the scoreboard though five innings before running into trouble in the sixth.
Okeechobee exploded for 5 runs in the sixth thanks to four hits and two errors, including a 2 RBI double from Ella Thomas to take a 5-3 lead into the bottom of the sixth.
Matanzas didn’t panic though loading the bases in the bottom of the sixth and rallying for a run on a fly out from Payne to cut the lead to 5-4 heading to the seventh.
Reliever Grace Ledrich retired the side in order thanks to two ground outs and a fly out.
Wood flied out to leaf off the seventh, Paiz followed with a solo shot to tie it at 5-5 and Hansen popped up for the second out to set up the ending.
Matanzas (14-2, 7-0) travels to Deltona (10-4, 3-1) Tuesday for a critical District 7-5A game in a battle for first place.
