BROOKSVILLE - Ashley Lewie was mad at herself Thursday night, a .330 hitter staring an 0-for-4 in the face.
"I was just trying to get a hit," the freshman said.
She got it, and it will be a long time before she forgets it. With a looper that landed barely inside the leftfield line, Lewie's seventh-inning single scored Sophia Gill with Hernando's winning run in a 4-3 win over Pasco in the Class 3A, District 6 final.
Hernando (19-6), winners of two district tournament games with final-inning runs, will host a region quarterfinal Thursday.
Playing in front of a home crowd at Tom Varn Park, the Leopards had answers for everything Pasco threw at them.
The top-seeded Pirates (10-13) struck first in the bottom of the third on a squeeze bunt by Jamie Endress, scoring Kalle Burchfield. But Hernando immediately answered with two in the fourth, on a Cheyenne Sellers single that scored Ashley Rogers and a double steal.
Sellers was on third base and Amanda Savoie on first, and Savoie bolted for second with the pitch. When the catcher threw down, Sellers broke for home and made it easily to put the Leopards up 2-1.
Still, Pasco answered again with a run in its half to tie the game. Hernando took the lead in the fifth on a Pasco throwing error, but the Pirates tied the game in the sixth on a Hernando error.
"I'm not disappointed or upset at how we played," Pasco coach Shamalene Broner said. "We fought back."
Hernando landed the final punch, however, with its run in the seventh.
Gill reached on an error and stole second, took third on a groundout and scored on Lewie's hit.
Pasco mounted a threat in the bottom of the seventh with two outs, but when Abbie Boyd popped up to second, Jamie Pass collided with Hernando's Ashley Cook while running from first to second. She was called out for interference, ending the game.
"We practice that as defenders. You have the right of way, the runner has to get around you," Broner said. "In these situations, they're so eager to score, the adrenaline's running through.
