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Land O'Lakes Juniors enter new territory
By STEVE LEE, Times Staff Writer LAND O'LAKES -- Two Land O'Lakes softball teams in the past two seasons have come up short in bids for sectional titles. The Juniors and Seniors both won District 13 championships in 2000 and 2001, and the Junior ballclub came the closest to a crown, losing in the final to Citrus Park in 2000. Now, the Land O'Lakes Junior baseball team gets a shot at that elusive goal. The team won a district title last week and would like to become the league's second Little League sectional champion. Land O'Lakes' Senior softball team won a sectional title in 1976. "We may be carving new territory," Land O'Lakes coach Robert Peterson said. "Maybe this is the beginning of a tradition of putting more (Land O'Lakes) teams in postseason play." But Peterson prefered not to elaborate on the significance of another sectional championship -- at least until after this weekend. Land O'Lakes, District 4 champion Plant City and District 14 winner Windermere will vie for the Section IV crown in a round-robin tournament at the South Lake Little League Field in Clermont this weekend. The preliminary games are Saturday and the championship game is Sunday at 1 p.m. Land O'Lakes opens the series Saturday at 2 p.m. against Plant City. Caz Piurowski will be the starting pitcher. Piurowski is one of four starters who helped Land O'Lakes win all five of its district games. Jonathan Brewster, Jacob Neely and Piurowski each had one win, and Jeff Bloomer won twice. The staff totaled four complete games with Wes Fuglesang earning a save after Neely was pulled after 51/3 innings in a 16-8 win over East Bay. "The pitching, at this point, has been phenomenal," Peterson said. The offense deserves acclaim as well. Piurowski and Ricky Howroyd have combined for seven of the team's eight home runs with Piurowski's four leading the way. Six batters average .316 or better with Piurowski (.733) leading in that department as well. Bloomer averages .533, Danny Sutton .529, Eli Jones .364, Shane Stone .333 and Neely .316. The defense, which has been spectacular at times, also has been a factor in the playoffs. In a 6-1 win over Bloomingdale National for the District 13 championship, Land O'Lakes turned a 3-2-4 double play that went from Piurowski to Howroyd to Jones. "We've got some depth," Peterson said. "I think it's a pretty balanced team." Most of the players have come up through the league and played on all-star teams as Minors and Majors. They already have gone further than any Little League team they've played on. "These kids are focused on doing what they need to do," Peterson said. "This is an opportunity for them to continue with a dream."
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From today's Pasco Times Letters |
