Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
JOHN SCHWARBThe No. 8 seed's surprising run reaches the final after a 4-2 win.
SPRING HILL - Perhaps with the first win it was a curiosity. But now, forget about the No. 8 seed tagged to Springstead in the district tournament.
The supposed last-place team is continuing to play nothing like it, and Friday it will play for the Class 4A-9 title.
Springstead (13-12) beat Leesburg 4-2 Wednesday in a semifinal to clinch a third consecutive regional berth and earn a chance for a third district crown.
The Eagles, playing on their home field, knocked off top-seeded Crystal River Monday and then the fifth-seeded Yellow Jackets, now all that remains is No. 2 Clermont East Ridge, 13-1 winners over Central in the early semifinal.
"It's amazing," junior Stephanie Discepolo said. "We needed this game bad to prove to everyone that we can do it, we're not just here for the looks."
Discepolo, the Eagles' leading hitter and one of a just a few players left from a powerhouse team that was 20-3 a year ago, provided the big shot against Leesburg, a two-run double to deep centerfield in a four-run third inning.
Springstead sent eight batters to the plate in the inning, knocking out Leesburg starting pitcher Amber Williams. Vanessa Ziegler led off with a single, scoring two batters later on a double to center from Heather Benson. Ashley Liberatore followed with a single, then Discepolo cleared the bases with a double to nearly the same spot as Benson.
She scored on a Leesburg throwing error to make it 4-0.
Those were plenty of runs for sophomore Stephanie Cox, who has pitched every inning of the season for the Eagles. She has had a penchant for allowing runners on but letting few cross home, and that was the case again Wednesday.
Leesburg (12-12) had eight hits, but left eight runners on. Cox walked none and struck out eight.
"It's nice to go back in the books and realize they had so many people on base and our defense just held them," Cox said.
In the first semifinal East Ridge (18-5) put a slew of runners on base but, unlike Leesburg, managed to score most of them in a rout of Central.
The Bears looked ready to make a run after a win over Lecanto in the quarterfinal, but trailed from the start against the Knights and were done after five innings.
A two-out, two-run single from Rachel Williams put East Ridge up 2-0 in the first inning, which proved to be plenty of support for pitchers Jenny Mixon and Michelle Bruno. But the Knights were able to pour it on anyway, plating six in the second and five in the fourth behind a 11-hit attack.
"Half of us showed up, half of us didn't," Central coach Angie Svagerko said. "I had a little bit higher hopes."