BROOKSVILLE - Over the past four seasons, the county's most high profile - perhaps most dominant - softball team has belonged to Hernando High.
Over that span, the Lady Leopards entered last Wednesday night's initial Hernando County Athletic Conference game at Central High sporting a glossy 17-1 won-lost slate against county foes.
Two-and-half hours later, make that 18-1.
Hernando, which opened the 2008 campaign at Tom Varn Park with a 12-8 win over Inverness-Citrus High, climbed to 2-0 less than 24 hours behind a closer-than-it-looked 13-1 win.
The loss was Central's fifth straight to archrival Hernando. CHS (0-1 overall, 0-1 HCAC) has not solved Hernando at home in six years, or Feb. 19, 2002's 5-3 nod.
New crew
The Purple and Gold, who graduated five players who signed to play collegiate ball this year, return nine lettermen from last season's squad.
All-County pitcher Ari Lowman heads the returning members of the group. The four-year varsity pitcher scattered five singles, hit a batter, walked a pair and struck out 10 to improve to 2-0.
Last season, Lowman finished 13-5 overall behind a 1.34 earned run average. She also no-hit the Bears at Tom Varn Park, 14-0.
"We started out a little shaky," commented the 17-year-old southpaw Lowman. "But then we started playing ball. It's a new team. We're kind of in the process of getting used to playing with new people."
Lowman, however, was not the whole story. Far from it.
Offensively, HHS helped itself at the dish cracking 13 hits against the Bears' frosh pitchers Samantha Berberette (0-1), who went the first three innings, and McKenzie Burns, who worked the last four.
Former junior varsity player, junior Alex Hayden, paced the visitors with a solid 3-for-4 effort at the plate with a run batted in.
Confidence is building for the first-year varsity player as she rapped a couple hits in the season-opener against Citrus.
"Yeah, I was a little nervous," indicated the 16-year-old Hayden. "We were a little shaky early, then we came back and played like we can. A win like this gets us ready for the next game."
Four others, including Erica and Demi Maldonado, Katie Killingsworth and Jessica Kreider, each rapped two hits.
Demi Maldonado scored three times while Erica Maldonado, Killingsworth, Katie Geiger and Hayden each scored twice.
Demi Maldonado also drove in a game-high four RBI behind a two-run triple in the third and a two-run single highlighting a seven-run seventh frame.
Demi, who hit .412 as a freshman followed by .373 as a sophomore, initially complimented her pitcher.
"First, Ari was on her 'A' game tonight," shared the 16-year-old Maldonado. "It always nice to win rival games. In the third inning, we came out swinging the bats. We all kinda figured out what we needed to do and started scoring. You just can't leave runners.
"At the end (seven-run seventh), we all kinda came together as a team."
On the bases, HHS ran at will against the Bears converting 7-of-7 stolen base opportunities including two double steals aimed at second-year catcher Brittany Rudy.
Defensively, HHS went a perfect 26-of-26 on chances highlighted by a nifty 8-4 double play in the sixth inning on a liner caught by Erica Maldonado, who fired back to second baseman Ch'antia Sanders.
Coaches' evaluations
HHS' third-year Head Coach Kevin Bittinger commented on the complete-game triumph.
"We're quick and we can run the bases," admitted Bittinger, who improved to 39-15 lifetime, including a 5-0 slate vs. CHS. "Hitting-wise, it'll come.
"We've got a lot of new faces this year," he added. "There's some kids that have to get used to playing at the varsity level. There's nothing to worry about tonight. That'll be different in five weeks. If we're making the same mistakes on the field then, we're in trouble."
And Lowman's performance?
"Ari knows she's our No. 1," he said. "She's a senior, she's a captain. She'll pitch at least 20 times this year. We're gonna ride her."
Meanwhile, from the home dugout, the mood was different.
The Bears opened the season on a learning curve behind three freshmen starters: Brooke Wardlow, Burns and Berberette. All were members of the two-time Middle School County Champion West Hernando Golden Eagles.
Burns is also Hernando Today's defending Middle School Softball Player of the Year.
The youngsters had a hand in Central's only run in the second.
Rudy led off with a walk and advanced to second on a stolen base. She went to third on Wardlow's first-ever varsity hit, a single up the middle in her first-ever at bat.
Two batters later, in the same situation, Burns looped an RBI single to right to plate Rudy.
Lowman, however, buckled down to strike out Berberette looking to strand two runners. All told, CHS left six on base.
On the rubber, CHS' two freshman pitchers struck out six and walked five overall.
But defensively, the Bears hurt themselves behind a game-high seven errors (all in the infield). The lone defensive highlight was Gabby Roberts' long run and catch in front of the left-center field fence off Kreider's bat in the third.
"We had some positives," explained Tyson Ellis, the Bears' fifth coach across the past six seasons. "But remember we started a freshman shortstop, freshman third baseman and a freshman pitcher. They're young, we need to work on basic fundamentals.
"Right now, we've got to shore up our defense," said Ellis, who teaches physical education at Challenger K-8. "We knew coming in it wasn't gonna be easy (here). There's been a few coaches. Our job is to start putting everything together."
What about Lowman's efforts?
"She pitched her game," Ellis shrugged. "She hits her spots. As batters, we have to adjust in the box. We'll see her again in March, I'm sure. Kevin (Bittinger) has got a good team."
Hernando 13, Central 1
123 456 7 R H E
HER 104 010 7 -- 13 13 0
CEN 010 000 0 -- 1 5 7
HER - Lowman and Platt.
CEN - Berberette, Burns (4) and Rudy.
W - Lowman (2-0). L - Berberette (0-1).
2B - Parker (HER).
3B - D. Maldonado (HER).
Records - Hernando (2-0 overall, 1-0 HCAC), Central (0-1 overall, 0-1 HCAC).
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