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End of the Line

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By MARTY MILLER

Hernando Today correspondent

Published: July 9, 2008

EAST LAKELAND – Late Tuesday night after his team beat Okeechobee American that set up their game Wednesday with Sebring in the Dixie Youth League AAA Minors (ages 9-10) All-Star Baseball Tournament in East Lakeland, Spring Hill American manager Al Sorrentino had some prophetic words.
Sorrentino said that his team needed to do three things if they wanted to win.
"We need to get good pitching, good defense and we need to get our bats going," he said.
Unfortunately, not much of those things happened late Wednesday night as SH American gave up three home runs, one of them a grand slam, and made four errors in one innings as Sebring ousted SH American (9-3 overall, 3-2 states), 11-5.

One lead

After Sebring scored a run in the first inning and following a more than two-hour rain delay, SH American came back in the third to score three runs.
But that lead didn't last long. Sebring sent 11 batters to the plate in the fourth inning and the big hit was a grand slam homer by Gerig Blackman.
"We got off to kind of a slow start, but we just knew the big sticks were going to come through for us," said winning skipper Bobby Cannon.
"Anyone who knows baseball knows that walks and errors are going to kill you," said Sorrentino after the loss. "We had four errors in that fourth inning. But these kids are among the four best teams in the state, and these 12 kids on our roster are among the 48 best players in Florida in their age group."
Sebring jumped to an early lead in the second inning when Jimmy Peck led off the inning with a home run to left field. Then after a two-hour wait for the rain to stop, Spring Hill jumped in front.
Liam Radecki led off the third inning by being hit by a pitch and Michael Tinari followed with a walk. Matt Warner singled in Radecki and Dante Hamilton brought in Tinari with a fielder's choice. Warner later scored on a wild pitch, 3-1.
However, it was the fourth inning that did in Spring Hill American. A wild pitch scored one Sebring run and another scored on a run scoring single by Seth Cannody.
Then Sebring loaded the bases and Blackman hit a 0-1 pitch over the centerfield fence. Later in the inning, another Sebring run scored after Spring Hill made three errors.
In the fourth, Alex Gomez hit a solo homer and in the sixth, two runs scored on an RBI double by Connor Cook and a second run scored following a single by Gomez.
Spring Hill managed to add two more runs in the fifth inning as Devon Nicolini drove in Warner with a ground out and Josh Penney singled in Myers.
In the end, it was the extra chances that Spring Hill gave to Sebring that Sorrentino talked about.
"We had several errors in the fourth and then Thomas (Sorrentino) gave up the grand slam," summed up Coach Sorrentino. "But I still think we could have worked our way around that. Sebring is a good team and you have to give them credit."
In the end, Spring Hill American concluded the 12-team, double elimination tournament with a 3-2 record. "Before we came to this tournament we wanted to win," said Sorrentino. "And I think we did more winning than losing this week.
"We would have liked to win the state tournament. But now that you know we've taught them something that will make them better players," added Sorrentino. "Who knows? If I can get a job in high school, I may end up with some of these kids down the road."

Sebring 11, Spring Hill American 5
123 456 R H E
SEB 010 712 -- 11 9 1
SHA 003 020 -- 5 8 4
SEB - Cook, Frazier (3) and Peck.
SHA - Hamilton, Myers (3), T. Sorrentino (4), Penney (5) and Tinari.
W - Frazier. L - Hamilton.
2B - Cook (SEB).
HR - Peck, Blackman, Gomez (SEB).
Records: Sebring (9-0 overall, 4-0 states), Spring Hill American (9-3 overall, 3-2 states)

Dixie Youth League Baseball
AAA Minors (ages 9-10)
State Tournament Recap
at East Lakeland

07-05:
Okeechobee American 9, Panama City Beach 4
Spring Hill American 5, MVP Poinciana 2
South Lake 11, Chipley 3
West Seminole 15, Wewahitchka 3
Hardee 6, Calhoun County 5
Sebring 16, East Lakeland 2

07-06:
Panama City Beach 4, MVP Poinciana 3
Chipley 5, Wewahitchka 1
East Lakeland 4, Calhoun County 3
Sebring 12, Hardee 2
West Seminole 11, South Lake 1
SH American 13, Okeechobee American 6

07-07:
East Lakeland 10, Chipley 5
South Lake 17, Panama City Beach 6
Okeechobee American 8, Hardee 3
West Seminole 11, SH American 0

07-08:
SH American 12, Okeechobee American 2
West Seminole 8, Sebring 7
South Lake 11, East Lakeland 1

07-09:
West Seminole 16, South Lake 6
Sebring 11, SH American 5

07-10: (Championship)
West Seminole vs. Sebring

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