GREEN COVE SPRINGS - Nine strikeouts by pitcher Malia Collins with a sixth inning strikeout and two snags for outs from second baseman Kaitlyn Collins gave Clay High softball coach Matt Lewis a second consecutive district title on Tuesday, April 28, as the Blue Devils won a 5-1 championship game over Pedro Menendez High.
"We got through an up and down season with a lot of young players and a handfl of upper classmen trying to gel together," said Lewis, finishing at 10-14 and now awaiting a region playoff bid. "In the last two weeks, we have played solid ball and the entire team has come together to get some tough wins. Tonight was icing on the cake."
After a scoreless tie into the fourth inning, Clay loaded the bases when Amiah Carrubba was hit by a pitch, Kaelyn Rouw walked and Brooke Hamilton singled. Kaitlyn Howell then layed down a tough bunt, and  she beat the throw at first base to score Carrubba. A wild pitch and a walk to DD'Reah Watson got a second run, with a gounder from Sadie Russo scoring the fourth run.
In the fifth, Yarianis Gonzales got on base with another errant pitch, and Rouw singled for an RBI.

Menendez' lone run was a homer in the sixth that Collins answered with an inning ending strikeout.
From there, Clay's defense held with the Collins' executing at second base on two hard grounders.
In other district games, Orange Park took advantage of two costly errors by Middleburg to get a 3-0 lead in the first inning that led to a 3-1 district semifinal opset over the Broncos. Middleburg came into the game ranked 18th in 5A, while with Orange Park was 39th.

"I just told them  nobody expects anything from  you and you just have to play your best game of the year tonight, "and they responded. I think Middleburg made some errors that they don't normally make and we took the opportunity presented to us," Orange Park coach Lee Taylor said.

Orange Park then lost to Fleming Island, 8-3, on Thursday, in the district championship game on April 30 at Fleming Island. 
In the opposite semifinal, Fleming Island defeated Ridgeview, 7-2, with two runs in the fifth and three in the sixth after both teams were knotted at 2-2 for four innings.
Fleming Island got a strong second inning with doubles from Bailee Wadley and Emily Williams on top of a triple from Kate Collins to tie the game at 2-2.
In the fifth, Fleming Island broke the tie with singles from Addison Pleiss, Victoria Vazquez and Jolee Rich to go up 4-2.
More singles from Williams and Pleiss pushed the score to 6-2 with run seven coming on a Vazquez fly ball.
Down at Keystone Heights, senior pitcher Kadence Massey finished with 14 strikeouts to squelch Interlachen's batting lineup to a 0-0 tie into the eighth inning before hitting a walk off single to centerfield to score Amber "Slammer" Lea Wagner for a dramatic 1-0 semifinal win.

"We schedule one of the toughest schedules around just to be ready to play in pressure games like this," said Keystone Heights coach Jessica Marquart. "Our record is never very good on paper, but the girls know how to dig deep when it counts. "

The Lady Indians lost to top-seeded Newberry, 4-3, in the championship game on Thursday.

In Class 1A, St. Johns Country Day School and Christ's Church Academy both won overwhelming semifinal matches - 16-1 for the Spartans over First Coast Christian and 18-0 for Christ's Church over Eagle's View.

SJCDS beat First Coast Christian, 5-4 on Thursday, April 30, in the first game of the Regional Quarterfinals, and Game 2 in the best-of-three series will be on Wednesday, May 6.

St. Johns has batted to four consecutive double digit wins in the last three games with scores of 16-1, 26-0 and 16-1.
Emily Schneider leads the batting barrage with a .467 batting average with nine runs batted in with Taigen Lebel hitting at .424 with 10 RBIs, two doubles, three triples and two homers. Caden Brown is also above the .400 mark at .467 with 13RBIs, two doubles and one triple.
The Spartan pitching is a combination of 37 and 30 strikeouts, respectively, from Jia Mei Kemp and Ava Money.
In Class 6A, Oakleaf closed their season at 2-17 with a 5-1 district semifinal loss to Tocoi Creek. Oakleaf out-hit Tocoi Creek, 7-3, but could not get to home plate with eight stranded baserunners, including a bases loaded sixth inning.

The Knights scored in the seventh off a base loaded single from Desiree Norris.