Lady Seahawks down Chiles, Blountstown
All of Florida Class 1A softball knows that junior Sarah Ham is among the very best pitchers in their midst.
They might want to start paying attention to freshman Jayla Creamer.
On just nine pitches, Creamer struck out all three of the Blountstown Lady Tigers she faced in the top of the seventh, to cap a 10-1 victory Friday, the Lady Seahawks second in two days.
On Thursday night, March 7, Franklin County defeated Class 6A Chiles at home 9-6, as they snapped a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the sixth inning with a six-run rally.
“I thought we played very well and beat an outstanding offensive team,” said Coach Scott Collins. “Sarah (Ham) hit her spots all night and we hit the ball hard, but right at them, until the sixth inning when hard hits started to fall.”
Against Chiles, Ham struck out 15 over the course of seven innings, walking five and giving up five earned runs on six hits.
She helped her cause by going 3 for 4, with a double, driving in a run, and scoring three runs.
Freshman Lilah Millender went 2 for 3 with a double, drove in a pair of runs, and scored a run.
Sophomore Averie Johnson went 2 for 4 with a double and drove in a run, while junior Charity Larkin smacked a double that drive in a run; junior Raegan Dempsey had a hit and drove in a run; and junior Michalyn O’Neal, junior Alexis Webb and Cream each had hits, while seventh grader Shasta Butler drove in a run.
Creamer, Millender and Ham each stole a base.
Against Blountstown, Ham went five-and-one-third innings, striking out 10 and giving up just two hits. Butler hurled two innings, striking out one and walking six, while giving up one earned run on no hits.
The team scattered 13 hits, including home runs by Ham, who also had a double, and O’Neal, who also had a triple; a pair of doubles and two runs batted in by Webb; and hits by nearly all the rest of the lineup.
Webb stole a pair of bases, and Ham, Johnson and Butler each stole one.
The team headed to Orange Beach, Alabama for a tournament this week, opening with a 12-3 win Monday over the Arab, Alabama Lady Knights.
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.