Lucky 13 Lifts Spring Hill

NEW PORT RICHEY - When the bottom of the third inning began, things looked pretty good for West Pasco in this opening round game of the Ponytails (ages 11-12) All-Stars District 4 Tournament.

West Pasco held a 3-1 advantage over Spring Hill at Oakridge Park in New Port Richey Thursday night.

By the end of the inning, Spring Hill had sent 18 batters to the plate, knocked out the West Pasco pitcher with an injury and opened up a double-digit lead.

For Spring Hill that rally resulted in a mercy-rule shortened victory, 14-3 in 3½ innings.

"The bottom of the order started that out," Spring Hill Head Coach Kevin Riecss said. "We can score anywhere in our order and we ended up running the table on them.

"Our big hitters came up with big hits. A tremendous defensive effort out there. We played well all-around. And you can't say anything more about the pitching of Nicole (Morolla)."

Batting around

That fateful third inning began with the last hitter in Spring Hill's order, Casey Vsetula, drawing a leadoff walk.

Morolla walked and both runners scored on a bad throw to first that resulted in a two-base error on Kaitlyn Glynn's grounder.

Anna Poholek followed by smashing a ball over the leftfielder's head, then racing around the bases for a two-run inside-the-park home run.

Katie McCarthy's single up the middle went off the shins of West Pasco starting pitcher Madison Stanilou, knocking her out of the game.

Off a reliever, Rayanna Riecss, Alexis Ferraro, Louisa Disi and Brooke Fischbach worked consecutive walks to bring in two more runs.

Tianna Shirley singled into right-center for a RBI and Kayla Harvey plated another on a fielder's choice, all before West Pasco finally recorded the first out of the inning.

Morolla tacked on a run-scoring infield single to second base, then Glynn cleared the bases with a three-run triple to right. McCarthy brought her around on a double to center.

In the fourth, Morolla finished off the game by holding West Pasco scoreless, ending her complete-game effort. The Spring Hill defense committed no errors behind her.

Spring Hill will play again Saturday at 1 p.m. against East Pasco.

"We've got a lot of work to do," Coach Riecss said. "But we put ourselves in the position we want to be in. We're in the winner's bracket. We'll just go from there."

SPRING HILL 14, WEST PASCO 3 (3½ inn.)
12 3 4 R H E
WP 20 1 0 -- 3 6 1
SH 01 13 X -- 14 7 0
WP - Stanilou, Guercio (3), Wolfe (3) and Reinhardt-Potter.
SH - Morolla and Poholek.
W - Morolla (1-0). L - Stanilou (0-1).
2B - McCarthy (SH).
3B - Ferraro, Glynn (SH).
HR - Poholek (SH).
Records - West Pasco (0-1), Spring Hill (1-0).