Sharks sweep Hawks, face Cottondale in regional finals
The Port St. Joe Tiger Sharks baseball team downed Franklin County in two straight last week, propelling them in a best-of-three regional final series this week against Cottondale.
At home in game one on April 28, the Tiger Sharks looked rusty, as did the Seahawks, after both teams had close to two weeks off going into the game.
After St. Joe put up a five-run second inning, Sharks starter junior Baylor Partie added to his five walks in the first two-and-one-third innings, and coach Ashley Summerlin pulled him for one inning of work by junior Jacob Hensley and three-and-two-thirds more by junior Elli Harris.
The Seahawks got back into the game with a five-run third inning, but St. Joe’s seven runs over the next four innings proved too much, and the home team left with a 13-8 victory.
“We did what we needed to do today, and won the ball game,” said Summerlin. “When you got a three-game series, once you win the first one, all the pressure is on the other team.”
Doubles by Hensley, Harris, senior Cole Williams and junior Corban Butts contributed to a nine-hit evening, The Seahawks managed just four hits, singles by freshman Kayden Drake, sophomore Chason Martina, freshman Karcen Poloronis and freshman Kobe Joseph.
In all the Seahawks used four pitchers, Martina, freshman Gabe Kelly, sophomore Sadiq Jones and junior Nolan Alford, and combined they walked six and gave up seven earned runs on eight hits.
Struck by a pitched ball, Butts left the field for a visit to the emergency room, but he was back in the lineup April 29.
“It ricocheted off of his helmet, hitting him in the nose. But it actually got more of his face,” said Summerlin. “He’s a warrior, he’s never gonna back away from anything. So there was never a doubt in my mind that he would want to play or he would try to give it a go.”
Butts had a two-run single in the second game, part of a 10-hit barrage that led to an 11-1 victory in five innings to clinch the series.
Partie blasted a grand slam in the second inning and a double in the Sharks’ six-run fourth inning, for a place in the highlight reel.
Hensley went the distance, giving up just two hits, a double b y Martina and a single by junior Colby Blackburn, while striking out five and walking six.
“He didn’t have his best stuff, but he was able to stay in there with a gutsy performance and do what he needed to do, to throw enough strikes to let our offense do some work,” said Summerlin. “That’s one thing that we’ve kind of hung our hat on all year, our offense. We don’t have a lot of guys that hit a lot of home runs, but we had a guy that hit one tonight and that was such a big swing for us and such momentum.’
“Guys are continuing to make plays and just do the little things,” he said. “All of those things just equate to adding as much pressure as you can on the team throughout the game, and we’ve done a good job of that. This team has that uniqueness about them, where they can hit and run, they can do those things, they can bunt, they can bunt and run, and steal a lot of bases. That’s what kind of sets us apart.”
Cottondale (17-11), who swept Blountstown in their series, was set to host the Tiger Sharks (17-10) Monday night. If they split the first two there, the third game will be May 8 in Port.St. Joe.
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.