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JAY, Fla. – A strong second inning and a stellar pitching performance.

Northview’s softball team accomplished both as the Lady Chiefs beat Jay, Fla. 9-1 to claim the FHSAA Class Rural District 1 Tournament Championship tonight on the road.

The Lady Chiefs scored six runs in the top of the second inning on a Bailey Burkette two-run homerun; a Jamison Gilman RBI single; and two runs scored on an Addysen Bolen single to right field.

Within the circle, sophomore pitcher Mikayla McAnally pitched a gem, striking out 17 batters and allowing one earned run on three hits in a complete game.

Lady Chiefs softball coach Amy Holland said the girls prepared well for the district tournament battle.

“We’ve had good practices all week. Yesterday (Wednesday) was a great practice,” Holland said. “Our girls have been united very strongly all week. We have a very young team. We have one senior, and one junior, the rest are ninth and 10th graders.”

Holland said the girls have put in the hard work.

“They told us from the beginning that they’re going to get it done, and they’ve worked really hard,” she said. “And here we are, winning 9-1. That’s a great win tonight over the first place team in our area.”

On the second inning surge, Holland said it was important to get ahead for motivation. She added that once the hits started rolling, they wouldn’t stop.

This marks the first time the Lady Chiefs have won the district championship since 2019.

“We’ve got a young team, and I’m looking to, you know, keep it running with this very young team,” Holland said. “We’re just excited.”

Holland said it’s going to be good to play the regional playoff game at home next week.

“It’s going to be great for our community, as you can tell, they are all here with us,” she said. “We have so many people here, they don’t even have any connections with our team, but our community just came together.”

Holland gave a shoutout to sophomore catcher Burkette, who came through for the Lady Chiefs.

Holland said McAnally was ready to throw for the championship.

“She’s a very hard worker,” she said. “We threw Jamison on the Paxton game. Of course, you’ve got to win that game to get to this game. And so, I asked Mikayla, I said, ‘Mikayla, can you do it?’ And she said, ‘I can do it, coach.’ And before she came out there before the game, she said, ‘I’ve got this.’”

Four Lady Chiefs had two hits each during the contest.

Gilman, Burkette and Kylee Langham went 2-for-4 each, and Riley Brooks went 2-for-3 during the game.

Gilman said it feels good to get on top.

“First, it took four years to get here, and we finally did it,” Gilman said. “It’s definitely a good feeling to get on top 9-1, too. That’s a big deal to win that much in the championship.”

Gilman and McAnally said the team fights together, battles back and are all together on the same page.