NICEVILLE — Somebody needs to remind Sydney Hann she’s a freshman.
A night after delivering the game-winning opposite-field home run in a 6-3 Sweet 16 win over Gulf Breeze, Hann’s RBI double to right-center field gave Niceville (23-7) a 5-4 walkoff win over visiting Chiles and punched the Eagles’ second straight trip to the Final 4.
“I was just trying to get a base hit, get the run in so we could end the night,” Hann said. “I knew I had to get the game done right there.”
Niceville HOF skipper Danny Hensley said to her before the at-bat, “Be patient. You’re going to get get something to hammer to right.’ That’s just what she did.”
Hann’s teammates rushed to home plate to celebrate courtesy runner Coley Gatwood’s game-winning run. As Hann reached second base and looked back to them, that’s when they mobbed her. Soon after the players slid into the path of the firetruck hose in left-center and snapped region title photos in the foreground of a scoreboard that told the story of two Niceville leads, 3-0 and 4-3, that disappeared on a night Chiles wouldn’t go away.
But in the end, Chiles didn’t have a freshman phenom ready to walk off the night. They also didn’t have a Carnley Summerlin to lay down the bunt and move the courtesy runner at second to within 60 feet of home.
After Bailey held Chiles scoreless in the top half of the eighth, Summerlin attacked the first pitch and laid down the bunt, moving Gatwood to third and proving small ball is essential in deep playoff runs.
“I told her, ‘We need the perfect bunt,’ ” Hensley said. “She said, “I got it, coach.”
“I was thinking, “Just get the bunt down,’ ” said Summerlin, who went 1-for-3 with a RBI and run scored. “It doesn’t matter if I get on or anything, just get it down.”
Once Summerlin did her job, she had faith her freshman would deliver again in the clutch. It was Hann’s second double on a night she’d drive in a pair and go 2-for-4.
“I knew. We all knew,” Summerlin said. “It was great to see her get out there and just demolish that ball. I just feel so proud of her. She’s done so well this season.”
“She’s something else,” Ace Chloe Bailey said. “She has really good grit, and she competes.”
The walkoff hit was made possibly by a gutsy complete-game effort from Bailey, who’s thrown nearly 300 pitches the past two days. On top of that, she woke up to an allergic reaction from medication Thursday morning and was still covered in hives come first pitch.
“I was just a little itchy, but I pushed through it,” Bailey said, downplaying the circumstances despite being sick during a week her team has needed her most.
“She’s just amazing,” Summerlin said. “To overcome that kind of adversity is crazy. She just tries her best every day. She knows that we’re behind her and if they hit it, we’ll catch it.”
Bailey did just that, striking out seven but also inducing a lot of soft contact as her defense made play after play. Come the eighth with a courtesy runner on second with no outs, Bailey slowed everything down. After an initial walk, she induced a flyout to shallow center and a popped-up bunt to the catcher before finishing her night with a K.
“It’s really stressful at first, but then I calmed myself down,” Bailey, who allowed four runs on eight hits and a pair of walks, said of the extra-inning stakes. “I’m like, ‘Okay, just one out at a time.’ And I know my team has my back.”
“She was a warrior out there,” Hensley said of Bailey, who has a 1.32 ERA and is 19-6 on the season. “She didn’t have her best stuff with her being sick and covered in hives, but she followed through and gave us a good chance to win the ball game.”
Niceville, a state runner-up last year, now has a week off before returning to the state semifinals at Boombah-Soldiers Creek Park in Longwood. Ranked No. 1 in 5A, it appears they’ll get fourth-seeded Braden River next Thursday.
“Getting so close last year, everyone worked so hard in the winter to try and do it again,” Hensley said. “We all know how hard it is to get back, so we’re going to enjoy this region title. But we’re also going to work hard this week to make sure we’re giving ourselves the best opportunity to get the job done.”
This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Sydney Hann delivers, Niceville softball walks it off for region title
Reporting by Seth Stringer, Northwest Florida Daily News / Northwest Florida Daily News
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