Just another inch or two and the ball is fair and probably good for an extra-base hit. Instead it goes foul, and University of West Florida (UWF) softball player Callan Taylor steps back up to the plate to take another swing at a pitch during a game against Valdosta State two weeks ago.
Eighteen games. That’s all Taylor Sparks played in last season with the Pensacola Blue Wahoos. A rash of injuries, including a broken wrist, derailed his opportunity to showcase his talent in his second season with the Double-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds.
It’s a perfect spring morning on the track, complete with sunshine and blue skies, and here on this final day of the month there is a feeling of finality.
The Raiders were eliminated from the district softball playoffs by Milton last Tuesday, falling 1-0. The Raiders entered the first round of the district playoff at Niceville as an underdog. They were riding a three-game losing streak and had lost twice during the season to Milton. However, those losses were by two runs and one run and the Raiders were a confident bunch before the first pitch.
This up-and-down regular season came to a difficult close Thursday night for Navarre’s varsity baseball team, and it ended with another trip down the hill, the Raiders unable to come up with an answer for rival Gulf Breeze in a 12-3 road loss.
Barry Larkin has watched the team he spent his entire major league career with struggle. The Cincinnati Reds have been one of the worst teams in baseball lately, losing 90-plus games each of the past three seasons, and that hasn’t been easy for Larkin, a roving hitting instructor for the Reds who takes pride in being connected to the franchise he became a star with, where he won a World Series.
