In a bizarre District 1-5A game that featured a slew of hits, runs, errors, wild pitches, passed balls, strikeouts and baserunning miscues, the homestanding Eagles ultimately prevailed rather easily with a 13-3 victory in six innings.
Niceville coach Kevin Berry, whose squad (7-8, 5-7) shrugged off shaky play with four runs in the second and eight in the sixth, summed up the strange contest best.
"It was one of those games (where) anything's contagious," he said. "Hits were contagious, errors were contagious. It was one of those nights where we had a terrible disease."
The Vikings (4-7, 4-7) had a more severe case of the same disease.
Fort Walton Beach coach David Garner was miffed at his Vikings, who cut a 5-0 deficit to 5-3 in the sixth before committing four fatal errors to spark Niceville's game-sealing outburst. Garner had his squad running sprints long after the Eagles had done their field maintenance and packed up their bags.
"We've got a lot of growing up to do," Garner said. "If you can't make routine plays, what plays can you make? We've obviously got to do better than that. Our kids have been playing hard. We'll be all right."
Fort Walton Beach threatened several times against Niceville starter Austin Wood over the first five innings, advancing a runner to at least second base in four frames. But Wood always seemed to avoid giving up a timely hit by tallying a timely strikeout, and he fanned 10 Vikings while giving up four hits in the complete-game victory.
"Austin battled tonight," Berry said. "We didn't have much help behind him, but we managed a victory out of it."
Jeff Boyer tattooed a two-run homer over right center, and Jordan Demos smacked a solo shot over the maroon monster in left as the Eagles built a 5-0 lead after three innings. Those were two of Niceville's 12 hits, as Matt Herndon, Danny Collins, Josh McDorman and Ben DeVall had two apiece.
The Vikings' offense finally produced in the sixth with the Eagles help, as Niceville had two errors, two wild pitches and two passed balls that spurred Fort Walton Beach to three runs.
But the Vikings returned the favor in a hurry.
Niceville's offense had gone cold leading into the bottom of the sixth inning thanks to Austin Sullivan, who relieved starter Robin Bailey after three innings and struck out five of the first seven batters he faced. But the Eagles put the game away with eight runs, capitalizing on four Viking errors before Robbie Campbell's walk forced in the mercy-rule run.
"We went back out there in the field and just caved," Garner said.
Aaron Miles had two hits for Fort Walton Beach, which had two baserunners thrown out at home and another at third trying to advance after pitches had gotten away from Niceville catcher Michael Wells.
FWB 000 003 - 3 4 5Niceville 041 008 - 13 12 3W: Wood L: Bailey
NHS JV ACTION --- A strong Niceville offense came alive for a 12-to-5 victory over Fort Walton's JV team. Christopher Krenek, AJ Gomez, Parker Willingham and Chase Darhower led Niceville with two hits each. After getting a rocky start, Hunter Phillips settled down and pitched the complete game, striking out seven and allowing only two hits.
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