Jordan Roberts finished the season with 14 home runs.

GLEN ST. MARY — They played with determination, fire, and heart. The 2016 Suwannee High School softball team was an extremely talented group, but it was the passion the Lady Bulldogs played with this season that set them apart.

Suwannee brought that passion in Tuesday’s Regional Semifinal against Baker County.

It just wasn’t enough against the defending state champs.

The Lady Bulldogs’ season came to an end with a 4-2 defeat at Baker County High School—the second consecutive season SHS has been eliminated by the Lady Wildcats. 

Tuesday’s game had a similar ending to Baker County’s District Championship win. Once again, third baseman Payton Parker turned a 5-3 double play to end the game with Suwannee threatening at the plate.

The Lady Bulldogs entered the top of the seventh trailing 4-2. Caileigh Croft and Jordan Roberts both singled with one out. That brought cleanup hitter Savannah Brown to the plate as the potential go-ahead run.

Brown hit a chopper that Parker corralled near the bag at third. Parker stepped on third and then threw to first for the double play. 

“We battled the whole game,” Suwannee coach Jeff Smith said. “We were in it the whole game. We had quite a few baserunners, had a couple of nice home runs. We just didn’t get the timely hit we needed.” 

SHS went ahead 2-0 in the top of the third. Roberts deposited a 3-2 pitch from Macy Jackson over the right field wall for the first run of the game. Two batters later, Alexis Brown hit another home run.

Baker County came back with two home runs in the bottom of the inning to tie the game. It added one run in the fourth and one in the fifth. 

Jackson did it all for the Lady Wildcats. She pitched a tremendous game and emerged as the surprising offensive star. Hitting in the eight-hole, Jackson connected on two home runs. She had only hit one home run the entire season before Tuesday’s game.

Suwannee finished the season with a 19-7 record.