By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

The 7A-2 regional softball quarterfinals Wednesday are coming into shape after Harmony edged St. Cloud, 8-7, Thursday for the 7A District 6 championship at St. Cloud’s Mike Clark Field.

Harmony, 20-7, will host the loser of Friday’s Osceola-East Ridge 7A-5 championship game. St. Cloud (18-8) will visit the 7A-5 champ Wednesday. Both games begin at 7 p.m.

Harmony’s Lauren Harris hit a two-out, two-run triple in the sixth inning for Harmony’s winning runs, and Aleshia Ocasio pitched out of a seventh-inning jam to earn the win.

St. Cloud, 18-8, jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first inning as Kadeisha McCowen, Lisa Poon and Shina Hunsicker scored off Harris, who pitched the first two innings.

St. Cloud led 4-1 in the third inning before Harmony, a state finalist last season, rallied. Breanna Vanderzyl hit a solo home run, then Madison Nichols and Brooke Harris singled and scored on Lilly Mann’s double and Ocasio’s infield grounder. Ocasio was 1-for-1, walked twice and scored three times.

Molly Baker’s RBI double tied it for Harmony at 5-5 in the fourth, but the Lady Dogs countered when Hunsicker scored on Emily Blakmore’s double. Brianna Kuzara’s RBI single drove in Blackmore, who scored twice.

Brooke Harris was hit by a pitch and scored after Mann and Ocasio singled in the sixth. After Baker flied out, Harris drove her triple down the left field line.

“I’d rather win one like this ­ even lose one, but not at the district tournament - rather than to win like 16-0,” Harmony Coach Mike Clark, the field’s namesake, said. “This was fun. St. Cloud played hard. Their kids did a great job. But, our girls have played like this all year. They never give up.”

St. Cloud Coach Ray Whobrey lauded his team.

“I’m proud of them. They wanted it, and they played hard,” he said. “I thought we had it. We came close.”

St. Cloud hasn’t beaten Harmony since 2006.

Top-seeded Osceola (18-8) escaped upset-minded Gateway, 3-1, in the 7A-5 semifinals at Coffey Field Wednesday.

East Ridge (21-5) pounded Lake Minneola, 11-1, in five innings in the other semifinal.

Osceola’s Kenya Pereira struck out 10 to earn the win for the Kowgirls Wednesday. Outfielder Jessica Callahan tripled and drove in a run. Gateway’s JoJo Martinez had two hits as the Lady Panthers finished 8-15.

Gateway Coach Rachel Kilbert said her team played well, holding a 1-0 lead through four innings.

“It was close,” she said. “We certainly have improved, but we have a long way to go.”