By By James Crawford
News Editor
The Escambia County Blue Devils cinched a playoff birth for the first time in seven years on Monday with a 7-2 area win on the road over Greenville.
Norris Brooks was the winning pitcher in a game that will go down in Blue Devil history.
"Norris just had a complete game. He was really in the zone," said ECHS Blue Devil Head Coach Keith Nall.
The Blue Devils wrapped up their season with a 4-2 area record and finished as runner-up in Area 3 play.
The team will face its first opponent in single elimination playoff format on May 23 at a site to be announced.
The Blue Devils will be back in action this weekend hosting their county tournament.
The games will begin Thursday and will conclude on Saturday with two games each day.
Thursday and Friday's games will start at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday's game will be at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Escambia County will play the last game each day.
ECHS has faced numberous challenges this year both on and off the field with four players quitting the team mid-season.
Several junior varisity players were advanced to help fill in the gaps and stepped up into roles traditionally filled by seniors, of which ECHS now only has two left on the team.
"They have really stepped up to help us out when we needed it," said Nall.