Collier shocks Baker 3-2
Barron Collier rallied to overcome a 2-0 deficit and stun Ida Baker 3-2 in eight innings Wednesday night in the Region 4A-3 quarterfinal playoffs.
Ashley Swiderski drew a leadoff walk in the eighth. With Kaitlin Conway at the plate, Swiderski advanced two bases on a passed ball. Runner, fielder and ball collided on the play at third base with the ball getting just far enough away from Baker third baseman Hannah Kelly for Swiderski to score the game-winning run.
The Cougars advance to the regional semifinal Friday night at Naples, which defeated Lemon Bay 5-0.
The Cougars (21-9) started out wild, committing errors on their first two fielding chances. Bulldogs leadoff hitter Katie Rieser and Shanelly Brown bunted and reached on errors in the first inning. With two outs on infield popups, Maddy Peres drew a walk to load the bases, but Jessica Nuccio struck out to end the threat.
The Cougars’ infield trouble continued in the second inning and it cost them a run. Brittney Benvie laid down a bunt and raced all the way to third base when the overthrow sailed down the right field foul ground. Benvie scored on Deniece Bent’s groundout to second.
Sierra Myers walked, stole second and wound up on third base on Rieser’s single to left, but two pop flies ended that threat.
Peres, who pitched so well in the District 4A-11 tournament last week, worked out of a two-on, no-out jam in the fourth by coaxing a groundout, an infield pop-up and a strikeout.
Bent came through again with an RBI single in the fifth to put the Bulldogs up 2-0.
The Cougars rallied to tie the game in the sixth, loading the bases with no outs. With one out, a ground ball to Louie Ross at shortstop led to the first run. A baserunner collided with Ross, who got the out at first, but interference was not called.
Collier scored the unearned run in the eighth to win it.
The Bulldogs (24-3), who went three-up, three-down in the last of the eighth, finish the season with their first regional playoff appearance.
Barron Collier000 002 01 – 3 5 4
Ida Baker010 010 00 – 2 7 4
W – Schaus. L – Peres.
2B – Langham (BC), Corrente (BC).
Baseball
District 4A-11 semifinals at Terry Park: Pitching prevailed as Mariner conquered Fort Myers 3-1 in the district semifinals Wednesday night.
The Tritons (20-7) meet Estero, which ousted Ida Baker, in the championship game at 7 p.m. Friday.
Alex Santana scored the game’s first run on a throwing error in the third inning. After Fort Myers tied the game 1-1 in the fourth, Ryan Hutson and freshman Joey Morales teamed up to put the game-winning runs on the board in the bottom of the fourth.
Hutson (2-for-3) doubled to open the inning and was sacrificed to third from where he scored the go-ahead run on a single by Morales. Tyler Bender grounded into a fielder’s choice on which Morales scored.
Jason Carmichael (3-for-3) pitched a complete-game three-hitter while striking out 10, walking three and hit four batters.
Fort Myers 000 100 0 – 1 3 2
Mariner 001 200 x – 3 6 3
W – Carmichael (8-2). L – Melita.
2B – Carmichael (M), Hutson (M).
Estero 10, Ida Baker 0: Once Estero erupted for six runs in the third inning, the end came quickly for Ida Baker in the five-inning semifinals.
Will Anderson allowed the Bulldogs just three base hits to earn the win and send the Wildcats to the championship game Friday against Mariner.
Ida Baker 000 00 – 0 3 2
Estero 106 3x – 10 13 0
W – Anderson. L – Gutierrez.
2B – Toops (E), Selesky (E). 3B – Toops (E).