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Hernando Today

Late Spurt Staves Off Elimination

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By MARTY MILLER

Hernando Today correspondent

Published: July 10, 2008

EAST LAKELAND - For once in this Dixie Youth League AAA Minors State baseball tournament, Spring Hill American did not wait for any last second heroics to pull out a win.

Facing elimination in the 9-10-year-old, double elimination affair, Spring Hill jumped in front early and then piled it on to defeat Okeechobee American late Tuesday night, 12-2.

Brett Krieger drove in two runs while his team scored 11 runs in the final three innings to stay alive in the tournament for at least one more day.

Spring Hill, who had beaten Okeechobee 13-6 earlier in the tournament, faces perhaps the toughest squad in the field - Sebring. Sebring fell in extra innings early Wednesday morning to unbeaten West Seminole, 8-7.

"This is the first game we've scored the first run of the game," indicated Spring Hill skipper Al Sorrentino. "We didn't make any errors tonight and on a wet field, the kids played great."

Rain, rain go away

With the contest being delayed more than two hours because of a rain storm, SH American jumped to a quick lead for the first time in this tournament.

In the first inning, singles by Dante Hamilton and Devon Nicolini combined with a wild pitch put Spring Hill ahead 1-0.

In the third, SH American upped their lead to 4-0 with an RBI ground out by Josh Penney and run scoring singles from Zach Sorrentino and Krieger.

Okeechobee scored their only two runs of the game in the fourth on an RBI double by Adam Joyner and later in the inning, getting another run across on a sacrifice bunt.

In the next two innings, Spring Hill put the game away by getting two unearned runs in the fifth and adding six more runs in the sixth. In that inning, Thomas Sorrentino, Krieger and Marianne Sparacia all drove in runs for American.

"Yesterday was just a little hick up," said Sorrentino about Spring Hill's 11-0 loss to West Seminole Monday. "Today, we got back to playing like we can."

Sorrentino now is one of four teams remaining in the tournament. But he believes his team can still come out with a state title.

"There's something about this team. From the second or third practice, the kids have come together," said the SH American coach. "We have kids who are off three or four different teams and they act like they've been playing together for five years."

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