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Hernando Today

Spring Hill Trying To Stay Unbeaten

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By CHRIS BERNHARDT JR.

Hernando Today

Published: July 21, 2008

In the long run, the first two State Tournament games for the Spring Hill Senior Boys (age 14) All-Stars may mean more for what they didn't do than what they did.

Spring Hill began the tournament at MERE Complex in Marianna on Saturday with a 6-2 win over Chipley. Following a day off on Sunday, Spring Hill faced a grueling doubleheader on Monday.

There Spring Hill renewed ties with Okeechobee in the first game, collecting a 7-2 triumph to set up a battle with the only other undefeated team left in the double-elimination tournament, West Volusia.

Through those initial contests, Spring Hill not only managed to stay in the driver's seat as it attempts to win a state championship. It also managed to save ace J.T. Simpson from throwing a pitch.

Instead Head Coach Mike Sollazzo turned to Jon Gaffney, who tossed three scoreless innings to start Saturday's game, yielding just one hit and striking out five.

On Monday, Gaffney threw 100 pitches over five innings against Okeechobee, permitting two runs in the first inning but nothing more, striking out nine.

"He pitched the game of his life for me," Sollazzo said. "I asked him for the game of his life. He was a little shaky in the first. Okeechobee is no slouches; they're a very good ball club. Jon battled back and actually gave me a great performance, one of the best I've seen from him in a while."

Gaffney's work allowed Sollazzo to save Simpson for the West Volusia contest. Sollazzo's plan was to do everything possible to get through the doubleheader undefeated, which would assure Spring Hill no worse than a three-way tie heading into Wednesday's championship round.

"We have West Volusia (Monday night) with my ace going against them," Sollazzo said. "If we get past that game, we'll be playing the winner of the Messer Park-Paxton game. After that, we've got to go along with the punches.

"I have plenty of pitching available to get me through that game. I'm really trying to get to the championship round undefeated."

Fast start

The tournament couldn't have gotten off to a much better start for Spring Hill when it scored three times in the top of the first inning Saturday.

After leadoff man Thomas Tambasco was hit by a pitch, Louis Colaiacomo singled and both runners scored on a triple by Ian Townsend. Simpson followed with a three-bagger of his own to plate Townsend.

"It was really big, no doubt about it," Sollazzo said. "That was a beautiful thing (Townsend's triple). You get two RBIs right there, then the next batter hits another triple. That's the way to get started."

Back-to-back doubles by Colaiacomo and Julian Perez pushed another run across in the third, and Perez scored on a passed ball. Simpson tacked on a RBI single in the seventh.

"We didn't hit the ball as well as we could," Sollazzo said. "We had hits, then we didn't get key hits. Two or three key hits in the middle innings would have opened the game up. They weren't a bad team, but they definitely were not as good as us."

Spring Hill also jumped on Okeechobee in the opening frame, receiving a three-run home run off the bat of Perez.

David Woop came up with a pinch-hit two-run single in the fourth and two more came across on passed balls to provide Spring Hill with some breathing room.

This one had some extra meaning since Okeechobee knocked out Spring Hill from last year's Junior Boys (age 13) State Tournament.

"Great game, lot closer than the score says, but somebody has got to win it," Sollazzo said. "And it was a little sweet because they eliminated us last year."

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

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