Late Rally Saves SH National, Foils Hernando, 5-3

BUSHNELL - Bruce Price told his Hernando players after a tournament-ending 5-3 loss to Spring Hill National that they had nothing to be ashamed of.

It was a message that could have been delivered to either team.

In the final analysis, it was Spring Hill National's ability to bounce back that determined this game and kept its hopes alive in the Dixie League AAA Minors (ages 9-10) All-Stars Baseball District 6 Tournament, which was played at the Kenny Dixon Sports Complex in Sumter County.

With the elimination-game win, SH National will now meet unbeaten SH American again in a semifinal last night.

"These were two good teams and it showed in the score," said SH National coach John Hrobuchak. "Bodhi Sbashnig pitched two strong innings to get us started, we hit the ball hard and we got great pitching throughout the game."

That SH National did, keeping Hernando hitless until Kurt Eppley's leadoff single in the fourth and limiting it to four singles overall.

First blood

SH National struck first, Mason Stacy slugging a solo home run in the first inning over the center-field fence. A second run scored in the fourth after singles by Jacob Mannino and Stacy to start the inning, with a pop-up by Brandon Baker producing the run.

But Hernando eliminated that deficit with its three-run fifth that started with a single by Pierce Kimbrough, a walk to Brad Ellis and two errors by SH National. Elijah Ramirez singled in the go-ahead run with one out.

That, however, was as much as Hernando could get. One-out singles by James Beck and Justin Rubeo set the table for SH National in the bottom of the fifth; an error on Mannino's grounder scored the tying run, and Stacy then delivered two more with a base hit.

Stacy was the only player to have multiple hits for either team, collecting two singles and a homer, with three RBI.

"Their top two hitters produced all the runs," said Price of SH National's Mannino and Stacy. "But my kids played a fantastic game. My hat's off to (SH National), they played a solid game."

Beck got the pitching win for SH American, while Daniel Miller absorbed the defeat.