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JIM REESEBloomingdale tops Sarasota 1-0 and faces Sarasota Riverview, a 4-2 winner over Durant, in Thursday's final.
TAMPA - Bloomingdale rode the strong right arm of Alison Kime and timely late hitting to defeat Sarasota 1-0 and advance to the Class 6A, District 6 final.
In the night's other game, Sarasota Riverview turned back Durant4-2 to face the Bulls in Thursday's championship.
Kime (18-0) pitched a two-hit shutout through eight innings for the Bulls. Kime, who struck out 10, didn't think she had her best stuff.
"I had a tough time getting in rhythm," Kime said. "But my teammates came through when we needed it."
In the bottom of the eighth, Melissa Mestre opened with a single and went to third on a single by Kristin Maas. Maas took second on the throw. Kime then attempted a squeeze but Mestre hustled back to third when the bunt rolled toward her as she started for home. With the bases loaded and Tifffany Anderson at the plate, the second pitch went into the dirt and Mestre came home standing up to win.
"We put the ball in play tonight and that made the difference," Bulls coach Mike Klamen said. "Alison kept us in the game and we only stuck out once. On this team, that's a pretty good recipe for success."
The Cougars came up short in the nightcap, getting the tying run to the plate in the final inning only to see catcher Lauren Pulling called out at first on a close play. Sarasota Riverview took an early two-run lead in the fifth before Durant's Leslie Corbett drove a ball to deep right-center in the bottom of the fifth for a triple, then scored on the overthrow to third.
Sarasota-Riverview added two runs in the seventh to go up by three before the Cougars provided some late fireworks.
After Corbett reached on an error, two groundouts moved her to third where she scored on Cari Curfmann's single.
"This was a real tough loss for us tonight," Curfmann said. "But we have a lot of girls coming back next year and I think we'll be pretty good."