Place an Ad Calendars Classified Forums Sports Weather

sptimes.com Text-only News sections Arts & Entertainment AP The Wire Business Citrus County Columnists Floridian Hernando County Hillsborough Letters Movies Neighborhood Times News Update North Pinellas North of Tampa Obituaries Opinion Pasco County South Pinellas Sports State Tampa Bay TV Times World & Nation  Find your local news section Weekly sections Brandon Times City Times Homes Outdoors Perspective Personal Tech Taste Travel Weekend Xpress Special Sections Arena football Buccaneers College football Devil Rays Lightning Police reports Schools Seniority Subscriber Services Subscribe Renew Help Advertise Place an ad In print Online Market Info Join Us Internships Scholarships Times Jobs Contact us

Homer in 10th lifts Crystal River

CRYSTAL RIVER -- Crystal River fans waited for something big to happen, and Melissa Coburn delivered -- big time.

Coburn, whose second-inning solo home run tied it, came through again in the bottom of the 10th with a booming homer that gave the Pirates a 2-1 victory over Citrus. "It's been a while since I've had a real, over-the-fence home run. And now two," Coburn said. "I was looking for a base hit, but over the fence was much better."

The score was tied at 1 when Coburn sent the fans home with a towering shot that cleared the leftfield wall by a foot.

The home run ended an otherwise successful return for Krystle Cummings, who transferred from Crystal River to Citrus during the offseason and entered the game 2-0.

Cummings surrendered 10 hits and struck out only two but kept the Pirates off of the scoreboard for seven consecutive innings before Coburn's homer. Easily lost in Coburn's dramatics was an equally impressive outing by the Pirates' Cassie Pearson. The junior, who had lost her only other start this season, allowed two hits and struck out 13. Pearson allowed just two balls to reach the outfield and six baserunners and struck out the side twice.

"(Pearson) did a great job pitching. What else can I say?" Citrus coach Scott Waters said. "We were pitching Coburn high and outside, and that one, I think, just floated a little bit.

"We knew coming in that they weren't real strong hitting, but we knew Coburn could pop it."

The Hurricanes (3-1, 1-1 in Class 3A, District 6) took a 1-0 lead in the first. Alycia LePage reached on an infield single, stole second and third and scored on Rebecca Daigle's groundout to Pearson. Pearson looked LePage back initially before going to first, but LePage beat Ashley Bullion's throw home.

Cummings sat the Pirates (3-1, 1-0) down in order in the bottom of the first, but Coburn led off the second with a towering blast over the centerfield wall to tie it.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright