MIDDLEBURG – A 4-0 non-district win over Middleburg on March 29 could very well be the catalyst to a strong district and region run by the Lady Indians of Keystone Heights High School who have stormed to the top spot of district 5-5A. Two days later, on March 31, Keystone Heights defeated district 5-5A’s Bradford County 5-3 behind three runs batted in by Kaitlyn Cline.

With a key district game scheduled for April 4 against Santa Fe (16-3, 5-1), the Lady Indians (11-4, 6-1), coached by Jessica Marquart and Jennifer Fender, are readying themselves for a strong playoff run with a gauntlet of teams in their final two weeks of regular season play that put the Indians up against the best of 6A (Clay), 7A (Gainesville and Middleburg) with 6A Orange Park the final challenge.

Against Middleburg on March 29, the Lady Indians struck first and fast with a first inning 2-0 lead coming from a Molly Crawford triple and a Bre Wells single. An error on a Skylar Rollins grounder set up the first run for Crawford before Wells’ single.

With pitcher Megan Moncrief controlling the mound for Keystone Heights with a strikeout and two grounders, the Lady Indians invaded Bronco-ville with a chip on their shoulder attitude of getting runs quick and attacking on defense with vengeance.

Middleburg had flown off to a fast start in the early part of their season with coach Karl Smeltzer and newly-appointed assistant Alan Burnsed, the Bronco baseball architect of a handful of district titles in recent years, pushing the pace of the Lady Bronco attack for seven wins in nine games after a season-opening 7-2 loss to Oakleaf. Unfortunately for Middleburg, two of the top 7A teams in Florida, Gainesville and Columbia, are in the Broncos district with Ocala Vanguard the fourth team. Middleburg has two losses to Gainesville; 4-0 and 5-0, and with a 1-1 record against Columbia; a 5-3 win and a 13-0 loss, the Broncos will need a bit more firepower to give Smeltzer a second region playoff berth in his second sport. Smeltzer guided the Bronco football team to a region playoff berth in the fall.

Part of the reason, injuries.

“We lost our best hitter when she stepped into a hole and injured her ankle,” said Smeltzer.

After building the 2-0 lead, Keystone Heights and Middleburg stayed at a three batters apiece pace until the sixth inning when Keystone Heights struck for two more runs from a bunt from Ashleigh Jennings, an error to a Story grounder and a groundout RBI to Rollins. Crawford pushed the fourth run across with a groundout for the final run.

Middleburg threatened in the bottom of the sixth, but a single became a tossed out at second by catcher Ba?iley Story on a steal attempt.

In the seventh, one more great defensive play by Keystone Heights with centerfield Ashleigh Jennings rifling down a Bronco baserunner at home plate ended the game.

Against Bradford County, Keystone Heights again scores first with Jennings scoring off a Crawford sacrifice to pout the Indians up 1-0 in the first inning.

Bradford would go ahead 3-1 in the second inning 3-1, but Keystone Heights responded three singles; Story, Rollins and Crawford getting the score to 3-2 before Kline grounds out but gets Rollins across home plate before Moncrief grounds out to end the inning tied 3-3.

In their final at-bat, Keystone Heights got the win with an error putt Story at first, a single to Rollins and Wells before Cline cashed in with a 2RBI single to centerfield won the game.