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Hernando Today

Hernando Drops Pair To Marion County

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By CHRIS BERNHARDT JR.

Hernando Today

Published: July 18, 2008

The Hernando Pre-Majors (ages 14-17) All-Stars had everything set up to take home another state championship.

Through four games of the State Tournament at Chipley High, Hernando had remained unbeaten in the double-elimination event, including back-to-back 12-2 triumphs over West Volusia and Chipley.

So on Wednesday, Hernando faced Marion County - a team it had defeated on Sunday, 5-4 - with two shots to win the state crown for the first time since 2005.

Instead, it was Marion County that celebrated a title and stamped its ticket to the World Series starting July 26 in Dyersburg, Tenn.

Hernando dropped both ends of a doubleheader between the two clubs, 8-3 and 5-1.

"They made plays in the field, hit the ball when they needed to hit the ball, and we didn't do what we needed to do to win," Hernando Head Coach Frank Vitale said. "We had plenty of hits in both games. We just never had the big hit.

"...They were a solid team. We lost to them. They deserved to win."

No big hits

According to Vitale, Hernando left 11 men on base in the first game, hitting into three double plays in three straight innings to thwart any scoring rallies.

The trend continued in Game 2, when the team left 10 on bases and hit into two more twin-killings.

"Our pitching wasn't what hurt us," Vitale said. "It was lack of big hits in the last two games. All tournament long when we needed big hits we got them. Just for some reason we didn't get them in the final day."

Vitale pointed to the hot hitting throughout the tournament of Patrick Dwyer, as well as Brian Bradshaw and Ryan Clark.

Coming into the tournament, which began on Saturday, Vitale had concerns over the lack of information he had on his players.

The team was comprised of mostly junior varsity players from Hernando, Nature Coast and Springstead High, where Vitale has served as varsity head coach for the past five seasons.

Weather issues forced various cancellations of practice time, and players dropping out contributed to some roster changes. But the team came together quickly and put together a solid tournament run.

"I think the kids performed beyond my expectations, not knowing what we had there," Vitale said. "But once we started playing, you could see the kids were into the tournament. They had the desire to compete and they wanted to win.

"I wanted to win naturally. I told the kids they may never get another chance to be where they are. I'm a little disappointed, we went into yesterday unbeaten and all we had to do was win once. But in reality, it's still one game at a time.

"After we lost the first game, the other team gets a little momentum and we just couldn't stop that momentum."

DIXIE YOUTH LEAGUE PRE-MAJORS
BASEBALL STATE TOURNAMENT RECAP
at Chipley High School

07-12:
Marion County 10, Sebring 0
Hernando 10, Sneads 8
West Volusia 8, Chipley 6

07-13:
Sneads 9, Sebring 1
Hernando 5, Marion 4

07-14:
Chipley 5, Sneads 4
Hernando 12, West Volusia 2 (6 Inn.)

07-15:
Marion 16, West Volusia 0 (5 Inn.)
Hernando 12, Chipley 2 (6 Inn.)

07-16:
Marion 8, Hernando 3
(Championship)
Marion 5, Hernando 1

Sports writer Chris Bernhardt Jr. can be reached at (352) 544-5288 or cbernhardt@hernandotoday.com.

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