West Pasco duplicates its fifth-place World Series finish

NEW PORT RICHEY -- The West Pasco Angels stuck to a familiar script, finishing fifth again in their second Dixie Softball League World Series.

In the two years the league has allowed Angels to compete in a World Series, two-time state champion West Pasco (ages 9-10) won its first two games before two consecutive losses.

Tuesday's 15-7 loss to host Alabama followed Monday's 10-3 loss to Tennessee. West Pasco (11-4) opened the double-elimination series with a 4-3 win over Mississippi and a 9-0 win over Arkansas.

"We're real proud of them," West Pasco president Kelly Skulas said. "Even if they wouldn't have went, we would have been real proud of them."

Even more impressive is that a half-dozen Angels opted for tournament play with the New Port Richey Bandits over the Dixie all-stars.

"I think it's outstanding," said Randy Novotny, who coached last year's West Pasco Ponytails (ages 11-12) to a third-place finish in the World Series and now coaches a Bandits team in that age group. "They were missing a few players and, from my understanding, weren't expected to do that well."

"We had a lot of inexperienced girls on that team, in the choices we had with some girls going to travel ball," West Pasco Angels manager Tony Cherry said. "There's no question that many, many, many people didn't think that we'd make it as far as we did.

"I'm just proud that we took the kids we were able to take."

Unfortunately, crucial errors cost West Pasco as they did a year ago. In back-to-back losses, the defense committed 15 errors.

"The big E was the word again," Cherry said of West Pasco's seven errors, leading to Alabama's six unearned runs.

West Pasco fell into a 6-0 hole in the first inning, saddling starter Courtney Dougherty (4-1) with her first playoff loss.

West Pasco got one run back in the second on a walk to Taylor Bruckner and Dougherty's RBI double. West Pasco cut Alabama's lead to 9-7 with six runs in the third.

Carly Parker and Angela Musso had two-run doubles, and Bruckner and Dougherty had RBI singles in that inning.

"It was fun, but it was just a long time," Cherry said of West Pasco's playoff run that began June 22 with the District 4 tournament at Zephyrhills.

Added Skulas, "I'm sure it was the time of their lives."

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