JACKSONVILLE - A dramatic sixth and seventh inning comeback, highlighted by a Caden Brown double and a snag of the final fly ball of the night, gave the St. Johns Country Day School softball team a come-from-behind 5-4 district 2-1A championship over Christ's Church Academy on Thursday, April 30, at Fort Family Park.

The win gives the Spartans an 11-6 season record with a possible region playoff berth.

"We had a rough middle of the season with a lot of new, young faces, but us seniors stayed with them and made them comfortable along the way," said Brown, a senior left fielder. "As the season progressed, I think they got more and more confident and tonight was the end result. It's been a while that St. Johns has had a district title in softball."

In two regular season meetings, Christ's Church has won decisively with scores of 13-3 and 11-6.

In their respective district semifinals, both teams exploded for runs with Christ's Church Academy winning 18-0 over Eagle's View and St. Johns winning 16-1 over First Coast Christian. St. Johns is currently ranked fifth in region 1-1A with University Christian (15-4) top seeded followed by St. Johns Paul II (15-7), North Florida Christian (16-5), Christ's Church Academy (13-6), St. Johns Country Day School (9-6), Peniel Baptist (12-8), Harvest Community (16-8) and Rocky Bayou Christian (10-7), with the top eight teams advancing to regions.

St John's last won a district softball title in 2019 under coach Deric Enter with Enter also winning in 2018 and 2015.  

"We knew coming in that we would have to play a tough game to beat them," said Spartan coach Joseph Anzalone. "The semifinal wins for both of was not going to be the same here. Tonight became a pitcher's duel and someone stepping up with great play. Our outfielders — Caden Brown, Mya Orozco and Sophia Mejias —made some great catches on well hit balls."

Christ's Church opened with a double home run second inning to get the score to 3-0, then added one off a double in the fourth with St. Johns only producing one run on a Callie Boggs triple, then an Emery Schneider single.

"We told them to keep playing hard and just chip away," said Anzalone. Note: St. Johns' last district title was in 2019. "They never lost focus on their jobs at bat and on the field."

In the sixth, down 4-1, St. Johns broke out with a single by Taigen Lebel, a sacrifice bunt from Brown and a single from Ava Money to set up a heads up play by Lebel on third with Money getting a throw to second base on a steal attempt to let Lebel sneak across home plate.

"Sometimes you have to take a shot," Anzalone said. "We practice situations like that every day."

Orozco came up with a running snag of a centerfield fly ball to end the next inning and fuel energy into the Spartan dugout.

"That was big," Brown said. "That got us pumped for the bats."

A walk to Kemp followed by a single by Orozco got an intentional walk to Lebel with Brown smashing a two-run double to 4-4 with a long sacrifice fly by Money scoring Brown for the go ahead run, 5-4.

Money came up big in the ensuing inning from her second base spot with a stretched-out snag of a hardline drive before Brown ended the game with her dramatic catch in left field.

On the mound, Jia Mei Kemp went the distance with her defense backing up just a one strikeout outing with the two homers.