No Encore Performance

SPRING HILL - Dixie Youth Baseball was in full effect Monday night at Anderson Snow Sports Complex.

The two winner's bracket games featured two Hernando County AA Rookies (ages 7-8) All-Star squads with Ridge Manor taking on South Lake and Spring Hill National playing Bushnell.

Spring Hill lost the lead and a close game to Bushnell, 4-3. Frankie Pastorelli pitched three innings, giving up two earned runs with seven strikeouts, and Chris Cesiro gave up the other two runs, fanning three.

"It was a great game. It went back and forth for quite some time," said Spring Hill Head Coach Frank Pastorelli. "We had the lead going into the fifth; it was 3-2. They actually came back and had a couple of nice hits and they took the lead in the bottom of the fifth, 4-3.

"In the top of the six they held us," said Pastorelli. "They were up in the beginning. We came back and took the lead. There was great pitching on both teams."

On the other diamond, however, it was quite a different story.

Both teams started out strong on the mound. In the first inning, Ridge Manor pitcher Austin Legg retired the side with a strikeout. South Lake hurler Jarrett Hatcher struck out the first four batters he faced.

But Legg found trouble in the second, walking five, giving up two hits and seven runs.

Michael Lineberry relieved Legg in the third for Ridge Manor, but found his own trouble, giving up four runs. Zack Mitchell tried to pick up his teammates in relief after one out, yet gave up three runs in finishing the third inning. He and Tavis Drake combined to pitch the fourth, but gave up a combined 10 runs for a total of 24.

Meanwhile, the South Lake pitchers, including the starter Hatcher, Jarrett Riffle and T.J. Kendall, combined for a nine-strikeout, two-walk no-hitter.

"Our main goal was to win one, which we did our first game," said Ridge Manor Head Coach Bryan Griffin. "We played Sumter. Christopher Griffin pitched the first game and we hung in there. Today we walked five in one inning that set the tone for the whole game.

"It boils down to pitching most of the time," Griffin continued. "Pitching and hitting, and we didn't do either. I think they threw a no-hitter tonight. They played great and we can't take anything away from them. We played horrible and hopefully we can make it up the next time."

South Lake 24, Ridge Manor 0
123 4 R H E
SLK 077 10 -- 24 7 0
RDG 000 0 -- 0 0 4
SLK - Hatcher, Riffle (3), Kendall (4) and Kendall, Dahl (4).
RDG - Legg, Lineberry (3), Mitchell (3), Drake (4) and Griffin, Lineberry (4).
W - Hatcher (1-0). L - Legg (0-1).
2B - none.
3B - none.
HR - none.
Records - South Lake (2-0), Ridge Manor (1-1).