PSJ softball has best season in four years
Although the Tiger Sharks lost their final game of the season, the young team finished with a 15-9 record, the most wins for Port St. Joe since the 2018 season.
The week started on a positive note with a 16-0 home win against the Bethlehem Wildcats (10-7). Four runs in the first followed by three more in the second virtually secured the win, and nine more in the fourth ended the game at that point.
Addy Creekmore led the Tiger Shark offense with two hits and three runs, while Brooklyn Bishop and Maelynn Butler each drove in three runs. Butler added a triple, and Lauren Brant stroked a double for St. Joe.
Butler, Kali Austerman, Erica Ramsey, and Elli Newman scored two runs each. Bishop allowed only three Wildcat hits from the circle to gain another win.
On Thursday, April 28, North Bay Haven handed St. Joe an 8-5 loss despite the Tiger Sharks out hitting the Buccaneers, including Austerman’s two home runs.
The 3A Bucs, with a nine-game winning streak, spotted St. Joe four runs in the third inning only to come back with six of their own in the same frame.
They added a run in the fourth and one more in the sixth while the Tiger Sharks scored only once more, on Austerman’s second home run blast of the game.
In addition to Austerman’s two homers, Newman and Butler reached base twice with hits.
Although the game was “disappointing, we had some positives that we can build on,” said St. Joe coach Lissa Walker. “Brooklyn threw well, (but) defensively we couldn’t back her up in some key spots. Kali had two massive home runs, and we kept fighting. Just too many small mistakes that led to runs.
“As a defense, we need to learn to settle ourselves quicker and not try to do more than what is expected of us. We are definitely where we want to be going into districts,” she said. “Hopefully, we can take care of business Monday and move on from there.”
St. Joe will face Bozeman (8-8) on Monday, May 2, with the winner taking on Wewa the following night.
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.