Eustis softball unloads in third inning for district championship win

Eustis plated five runs in the bottom of the third Friday and rolled to its first softball district title since 2014.

The host Panthers (22-1), ranked No. 1 in the Sentinel Super Six, tallied eight hits in a 5-0 win over South Sumter (17-9) in the Class 5A, District 6 championship.

Eustis will host Alachua Santa Fe in a regional quarterfinal on Wednesday at 7 p.m. South Sumter, state semifinalists a year ago, goes on the road to face Keystone Heights.

“The past two years we’ve finished runners-up and the first thing I did this season was design practice shirts for them that read “Finish Strong”, and tonight they did that,” Eustis coach Brittany Beall said. “But we’re not done, we’ve still got a ways to go to reach the final four.”

Although Beall credits the entire lineup for the success this season, it was the top of the order doing most of the damage Friday.

Jaycie Michael drove in a run and Seriah Brokenborough brought home two more on singles up the middle to help break open the game for Eustis.

“I haven’t found it yet, but there’s something special about this team,” said Brokenborough, a junior in her third year in the starting lineup. “There’s something here that no other team has in the state. Nobody is as bonded as we are, and I feel like that’s helped us over these three years.”

Michael and Leah Hanks each finished 2-for-3 with a run scored. Tori Rodebaugh went 3-for-3 with a double and a run scored.

Delaney Heaberlin worked a complete game for the win, allowing four hits and striking out six.

South Sumter stranded a runner on third base in the first inning and got no closer the rest of the way.

jcarnahan@orlandosentinel.com