The Ponte Vedra softball team (14-13) lost 4-2 to Ridgeview (21-8) on Tuesday in what proved to be a suspenseful regional semifinal game.
With the game held at Ridgeview, the Panthers scored early with four base hits and three runs in the first. Ponte Vedra answered in the second with four on, as Bailey Wagoner walked, Tara McGee hit, Michelle Holder reached first on an error and Olivia Zitiello bunted into a fielder’s choice. But the Lady Sharks scored only one in the process.
Ridgeview gained another run in the second on a double by Raven Little, driving in Hannah Foster. The fourth saw the middle of Ponte Vedra’s lineup striking again, as Wagoner walked, Tara McGee advanced her with a grounder and Holder pummeled a fly ball to left that drove Wagoner home.
McGee wielded a mighty club versus Brittany Michael, going two for three at the plate. Stranding two in scoring position in both the second and fourth innings, however, proved fateful, as Ponte Vedra’s top and bottom of the lineup could not perform. Save for a lone hit by Scotty David in the fifth, there were no additional chances to score.
Pitcher Michelle Holder and a solid defense held Ridgeview in the remaining four innings with five plays each by Wagoner at third, Catherine Beaton at second and Scotland David in center. The result was a 4-2 win that sends Ridgeview to the finals in regional play. Ponte Vedra finishes the season 14-13.
