TAMPA - Two of the Saladino Tournament's six pools were decided Tuesday at the University of Tampa as both Plant and Durant secured spots in today's quarterfinals.
The Panthers moved on easily, beating Blake 15-1 to finish pool play 3-0 in the Red group. Plant faces Hillsborough, the White pool winner, this morning at 10 at UT.
The Panthers banged out nine hits against the winless Yellow Jackets, including a triple by Dee Gendron. Andrew Kuykendall was 2-for-2 with two runs and a stolen base.
The win sets up a rematch with longtime rival Hillsborough.
"It doesn't really matter who we play, all we do is worry about us," Plant coach Bo Puckett said. "We figure if we can play our game the way we should play, we'll be all right."
Durant rolled to the Blue pool title with a 7-0 win over Leto, setting up today's game with Alonso, the No. 1 wild card, today at 1 p.m.
The Cougars (6-6) were led by winning pitcher Tony Garcia and on offense by Ryan Hutchinson and Len Carapella, who doubled and tripled, respectively.
Durant kept its offensive hot streak alive with 11 hits and with four runs in the first three innings. Alonso earned the top wild card spot by virtue of having allowed the fewest runs (three) of the teams which didn't win their pool.
The two other games at UT were simply for pride but were tight nonetheless.
One night after seeing its undefeated season broken up, King struggled before finally putting away pesky Tampa Bay Tech 8-7.
Jeff Bromley was 4-for-4 with three singles and a double and scored two runs as the Lions came from behind with one run in the bottom of the sixth to get back on the winning track.
The Titans played their neighbors tough, taking a 3-2 lead after the first inning, then scoring three in the sixth to tie it at 7.
Before that, Riverview scored twice in the fourth to regain the lead, then held on to defeat Wharton 3-1.
