Combined No-Hitter Lifts SH National

SPRING HILL - Saturday morning, Spring Hill National AA Rookies (age 7-8) All-Stars Manager Frank Pastorelli was only worried about having his team win its first tournament game, not with throwing a no-hitter.

But yesterday afternoon at Anderson Snow Sports Complex in the opening round game of the District 6 Tournament, Spring Hill National pitchers Frank Pastorelli Jr., Chris Cesiro and Brandon Frangione combined to no-hit Wesley Chapel American, recording 15 strikeouts and five walks in a 7-3 win.

"The kids came through and gave it their all," said Manager Pastorelli. "I'm so happy for them, although I never thought that they would throw a no-hitter in our first game."

Over early

Spring Hill got all the runs it needed in the opening inning as Colton Olasin started the game with a walk, stole second and third, and then scored on a wild pitch.

Later in the same inning, Pastorelli doubled to left field and was driven home by a triple to left by Frangione. He scored later in the inning on a RBI single by Mickey Dono.

In the second, Spring Hill scored two more runs as Tyler Lauer singled and scored on a ground out by Tommy McTague. Dylan Lambert then followed with a ground out that scored McTague.

National scored another run in the fourth when Wesley Chapel gave up four walks in the inning and the Spring Hill club added one more run in the fifth on a RBI hit by Jasson Kirkpatrick.

Each pitcher went two innings and all three had five strikeouts. Wesley Chapel scored single runs in the final three innings of the game with one of them coming on a passed ball, another on an overthrow and the third one scoring on a ground out.

Any pitcher that throws in three innings cannot return the next game. When asked if he was worried about having his pitchers throw so many innings if his team wanted to win the tournament, Manager Pastorelli said he wasn't.

"I was before we started, but then we worked out 14 straight days and having those kids work so hard, I think the games are more like a reward to them," he said.

Spring Hill National moved on in the winner's bracket of the 10-team double-elimination tournament. It will play Monday night at 8 p.m. against either Bushnell or Wildwood.

Spring Hill National 7, Wesley Chapel National 3
WCN 000 111 - 3 0 2
SHN 320 11 X - 7 7 0
W - Cesiro.
L - Langford.
WCN: Langford, Saturno (3), Delvalle (5) and D. Lasauro.
SHN: Pastorelli, Cesiro (3), Frangione (5) and Smith, Kirkpatrick (5).
2B - Pastorelli (SHN).
3B - Frangione (SHN).
HR - None.
Records - Wesley Chapel National 0-1; Spring Hill National 1-0.