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Hernando Today

Chipley Hands Spring Hill Initial Tourney Loss

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By C.J. RISAK

Hernando Today correspondent

Published: July 9, 2008

BELLEVIEW - BELLEVIEW - For the first three games in its run at the Dixie League All-Stars State Softball Tournament, the Spring Hill Belles survived thanks to stout pitching and solid defense, combined with just enough offense to get by.

In a fourth-round game Sunday afternoon that could have carried them straight to the championship contest without a loss, the SH Belles not only continued to struggle with their bats, but lacked both pitching and defense in absorbing an 11-1 five-inning mercy rule loss at the hands of Chipley at the Belleview Sports Complex.

The loss left Spring Hill locked in a three-way tie with Mulberry and Chipley, all with one loss.

According to Dixie League rules, a random draw was used to decide who would play the extra elimination game and who would get the bye into the final.
Spring Hill at least won something on this day, drawing the bye.

So, Mulberry and Chipley met at 4 p.m. Monday at Belleview, with the winner taking on Spring Hill approximately an hour after the completion of the first game.

Long day

It was, indeed, about all that went right for Spring Hill on this day.
Chipley scored twice in the first inning when a grounder got through the infield. Chipley, which lost to Spring Hill 4-1 in the tournament's first round, got two more runs in the third on a run-producing hit by Joanna Peters and a wild pitch.

The fifth inning proved pivotal.
Spring Hill had narrowed the deficit to 4-1 on Gina Thompson's RBI single in the fourth, then loaded the bases with one out on back-to-back singles by Megan Baker and Angie Gaffney and an error on Ashley Bettineschi's bunt attempt. But Thompson hit a hard grounder to second, and it was turned into an inning-ending double play.

The play gave Chipley momentum, which it took complete advantage of by scoring seven runs in the fifth, ending the game. Key hits included a two-run single by Janae Ritter (she had three hits in the game) and a two-run triple by Peters.

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