Auburndale's hole too deep in loss to Bayside

AUBURNDALE — Auburndale stormed through the season as one of the top teams in the county and appeared poised to cap the year with a trip to the state tournament.

It was not to be.

The Bloodhounds dug themselves a hole that they could not quite escape from as Bayside prevailed with a 6-4 victory on Friday night in the Class 5A, Region 3 final.

Auburndale ends the year 22-4 and was the second of the three Polk teams to lose in the region finals  on Friday, making it just the second time in history that Polk won’t have a team in the softball state tournament. McKeel and Lake Regionalso lost.

"I'm super proud of our girls and the season they had," Auburndale coach Mike Littles said. "I tell them when they get to this point of the stage, it's anybody's game. It could be one at-bat, one play, you just never know. But I'm proud of them. They were a great team to coach."

With a team filled with underclassmen — just two seniors who start — the Bloodhounds will have this loss festering for a year before they can avenge defeat. The hope for Littles is that this year’s experiences pays dividends next year.

“It just came out on the wrong end tonight,” Littles said. “It could have been a real ugly score after the first inning. It really could have been ugly. I’m sure they thought it when they went up 4-0. Oh, we’re going to run-rule them until we started hitting. She (Bayside pitcher Syd Palmer) doesn’t get hit hard a lot like that, and we were hitting shots. Their outfield was on the fence.”

Auburndale outhit Bayside, 8-7, but it was Bayside that had the two biggest hits of the night. Ali Walter’s three-run homer in the first inning made it 4-0. In the top of the fifth after Auburndale made it a one-run game, Brooke Mahaney hit a solo home run to give Bayside it’s final margin of victory.

Trailing 4-0 early, Auburndale did rally but the bigger story was one of missed opportunities.

In the bottom of the second, Johnkira Bland doubled and scored on Jenna Sheffield’s single.

After Zee Jones reached on an error to put runners at the corners with no outs, Hailey Bradley hit line shot bak to the pitcher, and Sheffield was doubled off  third base.

Mea Dyer then reached on an error, and Jones scored on Lindsey Sumner’s infield single.

Bayside pitcher Syd Palmer retired Kagan Dundney to get out of the inning. 

Bayside added a run in the third on Palmer’s RBI double. Auburndale again rallied for two more runs but missed the chance for more runs.

Kassidy Pontbriant and Victoria Charles led off with back-to-back singles. The next two batters were retired, but Jones’ two run single made it 5-4. She was left stranded at second base.

Auburndale put runners on first and third with two outs in the fourth and couldn’t score.

“We were hitting the ball hard, and some of them were right at everybody,” Littles said. “They (Bloodhounds) came in focused. We knew who we were facing.”

A leadoff walk in the Auburndale sixth was quickly retired with a double-play ball.

Palmer got the win for Bayside. She allowed four runs, three earned, on eight hits with three strikeouts and five walks.

Auburndale starter Genna Stutz pitched into the sixth, allowing all six runs. Pontbriant, who played on a gimpy ankle after injuring it on Tuesday, pitched the final 1 2/3 innings and did not allow a hit. She struck out two and walked one.