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Central wins its third in a row behind a solid pitching performance from Jen Clark.
By KEITH NIEBUHR, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 1, 2002
INVERNESS -- Central coach Benny Martinez was all smiles after his team's 9-4 win against Citrus on Thursday.
In winning its third consecutive game, Central outpitched and outhit the Hurricanes. Starter Jen Clark (3-1) struck out 13 and the Bears slugged nine hits, four for extra bases.
"We started coming around against Leesburg (on Tuesday), when we won 11-0," Martinez said.
Clark set the tone for Central (3-1), holding the Hurricanes (3-2) to two hits, and none until Ashley Worrell's leadoff triple in the fifth inning. Clark retired the side in order in the first three innings and the four runs she allowed were unearned.
"She's a gamer," Martinez said.
At the plate, Central was led by Liz Wallace (2-for-4, three RBIs), Samantha Downing (2-for-4, two doubles, two RBIs) and Lindsay Grey (3-for-4, two RBIs).
Grey's first hit, a double off Citrus starter Megan Rall in the third inning, scored Lindsey Herr to give the Bears a 1-0 lead.
They added six runs in the fifth inning on five hits and one Citrus error to go ahead 7-0.
Downing and Wallace each drove in two runs in the inning as Central chased Rall, who was replaced by Krystle Cummings with one out.
"We had a couple of balls drop in, a couple walks hurt us and we didn't do much (offensively) until later in the game," Citrus coach Scott Waters said.
"When you put all that stuff together, it doesn't go right for you. We expected it to be closer, but Central hit the ball well. You can't take anything away from them.
"We had some bad plays, but they had a few good hits."
Citrus answered with a run in the bottom of the fifth inning, then rallied for three more runs in the sixth after two Clark walks and an error loaded the bases with no outs. A passed ball led to one run and another error brought in two more, but 7-4 was as close as the Hurricanes could get.
Clark struck out two in the inning and induced a ground ball to end the threat.
"If we didn't stop the bleeding when we did, they would have scored more on us," Martinez said.
Central added two insurance runs in the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly by Shauna Dampier and a single by Wallace.