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© St. Petersburg Times, published March 15, 2003
RIVERVIEW -- Strong defense, excellent pitching and solid hitting have become trademarks of the Riverview-Bloomingdale rivalry and Friday night was no exception.
However, on the Sharks' home field, the Bulls took a slight edge in all categories and recorded a 2-1 victory over their neighborhood rivals. Both teams are now 7-2 overall and 3-2 in tough Class 6A, District 5.
Beth DiPietro suffered the loss, dropping to 7-2 while Allison Kime wrapped up the win and improved to 6-0. Kime, a junior right-hander, fanned 12 and yielded three hits. The only Shark run was unearned, leaving her with one earned run scored against her this season. "We were swinging the bats tonight and any time we put the ball into play, we have a good chance to win the game," Bloomingdale coach Mike Clamon said. "Allison simply played a tremendous game tonight and our batters picked up three doubles in our five hits. In addition to the hits, we were consistently putting the ball in play."
Bloomingdale opened the scoring in the top of the first inning with two outs. Kime blasted a double to the leftfield fence and came home standing up on a double to deep center by third baseman Jasmine Rivera.
The Bulls added their second run in the fourth off a shallow single behind second that brought Kristin Maas home. Maas, a successful slap-bunter, made it to first on an errant throw and stole second. She moved to third on a fielder's choice.
Riverview stirred up its offense in the bottom of the fifth, taking advantage of a walk and an error to score its first run. With a full count, leadoff batter Ally Maddox walked, stole second and third and came home on a wild throw to end the Bulls' shutout.
DiPietro led the Sharks offensively with a triple and a double. Tiffany Anderson, Kime and Rivera each hit doubles for the Bulls.
"Our hitters didn't do what they could tonight, but I don't want to take anything away from Allison," Riverview coach Angie Slater said. "She hit all the right spots she needed to hit and pitched a great game against us. This has always been a big rivalry and I am ecstatic to come away with 1-1 in regular season with Bloomingdale."