Wednesday night, on the road against Ocala Forest, the District 5-6A runner-up lost 12-1 in 5 innings in a Class 6 regional quarterfinal. A brilliant pitching performance by Forest’s Morgan White (21-2) combined with a poor defensive effort by Seabreeze was the difference.

White gave up just two hits, struck out six Sandcrabs and walked one. Megan Daller’s single in the fifth inning was the only ball White let out of the infield.

“They have a good pitcher,” said Seabreeze head coach Tarica Craig-Craggy. “I give them a lot of credit. They are going to go far.”

Seabreeze (11-7) cost themselves significantly by not being able to get outs on bunts put down by Forest’s top of the order. In eight plate appearances Wildcat leadoff hitter Jasmine Haynes and No.2 hitter Ansley Copeland bunted five times, reaching first base safely on all five bunt attempts.

The meat of Forest (25-2) order, No. 3 Caley Chappel, No. 4 Kaitlyn Peters, No. 5 Morgan White and No. 6 Nikki Blanton, did their job bringing Haynes and Copeland around to score. Chappel, Peters, White and Blanton were a combined 6-for-13 with 9 RBI. Haynes and Copeland scored six of Forest’s 12 runs.

Trailing 4-1 in the home half of the fourth inning, Seabreeze starter Britnee Dowd took to the circle to face Forest’s top of the order. The speedy Haynes put down a bunt that was fielded cleanly by Dowd. Her throw was dropped by first baseman Alana Hand. Copeland immediately followed Haynes with a bunt of her own. Dowd again fielded it cleanly but her throw to first was dropped by second baseman Taylor Daller. Haynes ended up on third and Chappel made Seabreeze pay for the back-to-back errors with a two-run single.

“We’ve practiced those all year long,” Craig-Craggy said of the bunt attempts. “I think toward the end of the game the girls were getting frustrated.”

Chappel’s single made it 6-1. She came around to score two batters later on a White single.

Dowd, in particular, was clearly frustrated the most, especially after having faced all nine Forest batters in the first inning.

After a leadoff walk to Haynes in the first, Copeland caught Seabreeze off guard and beat out the first of the five bunts. With Haynes standing on third, Seabreeze catcher Taylor Lee let a Dowd pitch to Chappel get behind her. Haynes came home easily to tie the game 1-all. A walk to Chappel put runners on first and second for cleanup hitter Kaitlyn Peters. Dowd did her job getting Peters to pop out to shortstop. She couldn’t get her counterpart White out though. The Wildcat pitcher helped her cause clearing the bases with a two-run double giving Forest the lead 3-1. Nikki Blanton, the next Forest batter, roped a single to center, scoring White for the 3-run Forest cushion.

Dowd set the Wildcats down quietly in the second and third before Forest’s three-run fourth inning.

“Those two innings,” Craig-Craggy said. “All year long we have been plagued with two innings that have just killed us in our losses.”

The lone Seabreeze run came in the first inning. White was called for back-to-back illegal pitches by the third base umpire. He cited White for not starting her delivery with her foot on the rubber. Cary Taiyers led off the game with a walk. She advanced to second on a Taylor Daller single. Taiyers moved to third on the first illegal pitch and touched home on the second.

Forest’s half of the fifth inning started with back-to-back bunt single by Haynes and Copeland. It ignited a five-run inning for the home team. Peters and Blanton broke the game wide open each hitting two-run singles

Dowd gave up 10 hits, 12 runs (10 earned) while striking out four.