Niceville baseball's dream season ends in state semis

By JARED MACARIN

jaredm@nwfdailynews.com

SARASOTA - Niceville's first trip to the state semifinals in nearly 20 years wasn't as good as South Fork's first.

The Eagles saw their state championship hopes cut short on Wednesday in a 3-0 loss to the Bulldogs in the Class 5A state semifinals at Ed Smith Stadium.

"We got beat by the better team today," Niceville coach Kevin Berry said. "I felt good about our team and we had confidence, but sometimes it doesn't go your way."

It was Niceville's first trip to the final four since 1989, and the second-ranked Eagles (22-11) entered the contest on a 10-game win streak.

But No. 5 South Fork (27-5) had all the answers, led by junior pitcher Tyson Young.

Young outdueled fellow lefthander Brett DeVall, throwing a one-hitter and striking out seven. He had a no-hitter through four and allowed just five baserunners all game.

"He was outstanding," Berry said. "He mixed his pitches well and kept us off-balance. We tried to make adjustments and just couldn't."

DeVall, who has signed with the University of Georgia, struggled to find his command early, giving up five walks in the first three innings. He finished with eight strikeouts and surrendered six hits.

It didn't help that the Eagles had a pair of errors early as well.

While Niceville staggered out of the gate, South Fork took advantage by putting up two runs in the second inning. Kyle Hunter singled in Blake Cilwick for the game's first run, and Ryan Breen drew a bases-loaded walk to bring home Robert Bednar.

"It's a huge confidence booster," Young said of the early lead. "There was no pressure after that."

It could have been worse, but DeVall (13-2) was able to get out of jams in each of the first three innings to keep the Eagles within striking distance. The Bulldogs left two on in the first and second before DeVall got out of the third with the bases loaded.

"You can't give a team like that many chances," Berry said.

South Fork didn't need any more, but Niceville wasn't able to conjure any offense against Young (6-3).

Michael Wells had the lone hit for Niceville in the fourth. Stephen Clements ran for Wells, but was thrown out while trying to take third on a ball that eluded the catcher. That was the only time the Eagles had a runner in scoring position.

"(Young) did a good job of mixing it up," Niceville's Josh McDorman said. "He had three pitches going for strikes, and when you do that it's hard to hit."

South Fork added an insurance run in the seventh when Spencer Dickinson knocked home Breen with a sacrifice fly.

"We didn't come here to make an appearance," South Fork coach Mike Harper said. "We played really well today. We didn't get many runs, but (our guys) came through with clutch hits when we had to have them."

South Fork advances to tonight's state title game against the winner of Brandon and Dundedin.

South Fork   020 000 1-3 6 1

Niceville        000 000 0-0 1 2

W-Tyson Young. L-Brett DeVall.