BAKER — Friday was emotional for Baker School’s softball team. Seniors Macie Wilde and Kaitlan Godwin played their final regular-season game as the Gators hosted Washington.
Baker overcame a two-run homer in the first inning by Washington’s Izzy Werdann, rolling to a 6-3 win.
Photo gallery >>> Baker softball team wins on Senior Night.
“It’s pretty sweet,” Godwin said. “It’s our last home game, and it’s nice to get the win.”
The Gators (17-6) responded to Washington’s two-run first inning with a two-run first of their own.
Wilde led the inning with a single. She stole second base and scored on a Holly Stanley base hit.
Stanley scored on a Mykala McCranie double.
Baker scored four runs in the second inning, taking control of the game.
Jordan Linzy led the inning with a double. Courtney Ellis was safe on a fielder’s choice on which Linzy beat the throw to third base.
Wilde was safe on a Wildcat error that scored Linzy.
Ellis, Wilde and Tori Foster, who reached on a fielder’s choice, also scored in the inning, putting the Gators in front, 6-2.
Neither team scored again, until Washington managed a run on three hits in the top of the seventh inning. However, by then, the game was out of reach.
Wilde went the distance in the pitcher circle, getting the win for the Gators.
She struck out eight batters and gave up just seven hits.
Baker pounded out nine hits.
Stanley led the way with three hits and two runs batted in. Linzy added a pair of hits, as did Wilde.
“It feels great,” Wilde said of getting the win. “I couldn’t do it without my teammates behind me.
“They just back me up 100 percent, and I love them for that.”
Gator coach John Carlisle got a little choked up, trying to express what Wilde and Godwin have meant to the Baker softball program.
“Both of those young ladies have done a great job the last six or seven years,” he said. “Those two I’ve had the longest. I’ve had them since then they were actually in the sixth grade, so it kind of tugs at me a little bit. They are both great kids, and I wish them nothing but the best in their future life.
“I’m glad they pulled it out and got the win their last home game. I am a little saddened to see them go because I have had them for so long.
Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Email him at randyd@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @BigRandle, or call 682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Baker softball seniors get win (photo gallery)