Alachua, Fla. — The Villages High School softball team made program history Wednesday night in Alachua County.

The Buffalo stunned No. 2 Santa Fe in the Class 3A-Region 2 quarterfinals, pulling off the upset for a 4-1 victory to record the program's first-ever postseason victory.

The Villages (14-10), which entered the regional tournament as the region's No. 7 seed, will now advance to the regional semifinals against No. 3 Crystal River (23-5) at 7 p.m. next Tuesday night in Citrus County. 

"I am so proud of our girls for the work they put in during the week, and coming out and executing our game plan from the first pitch of the game," said Buffalo first-year head coach Juli Woulard. "The energy from the locker room to the warmups and in the dugout, it gave our batters and pitcher so much confidence. We were able to have fun and be loose tonight."

Emily Thompson dazzled in the pitcher's circle for VHS, scattering five hits and allowing just one run over seven complete innings of work. The sophomore left-hander struck out 12 and also drove in a run at the plate in the win.

Junior Lexy Sanchez had a pair of hits, two stolen bases and two runs scored to lead the offensive attack for The Villages, who had lost all nine previous postseason games in program history prior to Wednesday night.


CLASS 3A-REGION 2 QUARTERFINALS
(Alachua, Fla.)
THE VILLAGES 4, SANTA FE 1
VHS    310    000    0 – 4    5    0
SF       000    010    0 – 1    5    1
W: Emily Thompson. L: Makenna Payne.


Cody Hills can be reached for questions or comment at cody.hills@tvcs.org.