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JEREMY WRITTTampa Prep and St. Stephens ride powerful pitching to shutouts of IRC and Northside Christian.
ST. PETERSBURG - The Class 2A, District 11 semifinals could have been summed up in four words: have pitching, will advance.
Tampa Prep and St. Stephens (Bradenton) needed just five innings to dispatch opponents thanks to dominating pitching from their freshman starters.
Tampa Prep's Mallory Schrieber had 10 strikeouts en route to a 10-0 win over Indian Rocks Christian. Ashton Whidden was overpowering and accurate as she and the Terrapins beat Northside Christian 12-0.
Indian Rocks was hurt most by an inability to throw strikes. Evan Szelistowski and Meghan Edwards walked 10 combined. In contrast, Schrieber only faced three more than the 15-batter minimum through five innings. She allowed one hit and a walk despite being just three games removed from back surgery. Brittany Oliphant was the only Golden Eagle to get past second base. Schrieber struck out the final six she faced.
"They have a very good pitcher who basically controlled the game," Indian Rocks coach Tom Oliphant said. "Even when we got our bats on the ball we were overpowered. We weren't even hitting the ball out of the infield."
In the second game, the Falcons scored three in the first inning and six in the third. Jenny Waters drew a walk to open the game before Kim Goss grounded out. Four consecutive singles, including Stephanie Boothby's two-RBI singles, gave St. Stephens an early lead that allowed their freshman pitcher to be aggressive on the mound.
"She had outstanding control of all her pitches today," St. Stephens coach Skip Falcone said. "She worked a very dominant inside game which made her very successful."
Whidden, who also scored two runs, scattered three hits and recorded six strikeouts over five shutout innings.
"Her off-speed pitches were phenomenal today," Falcone said. "Ashton is a very physical pitcher. When her game is on, it's very hard for anyone to catch up with her."