The Lancers junior ace throws a one-hitter and improves to 24-1 to earn a spot in the state semifinals.
By TERRY JONES
Published May 15, 2004
SARASOTA - With a 6-1 victory Friday over Sarasota Christian, Cambridge won Class A, Region 2 and earned a berth in next week's state semifinals.
The game started as a pitchers duel between Lancers junior ace Samantha Becker and the Blazers' Maree Franklin. However, Cambridge scored once in the fourth and fifth innings, then blew out Sarasota in the top of the seventh.
Becker's one-hitter extended her record to 24-1. "When we scored our first run, I felt we could win," Becker said. "Everyone on the team was playing consistently and everyone put the ball into play. I was hitting all my locations today and felt good all the way through."
Becker scored the first run in the fourth. She reached on a fielder's choice and stole second when the Blazers tried to throw out Jessica Martinieri at third. Becker later scored on an error.
In the top of the fifth, Lauren Simpson added a run on a run-scoring single by Martinieri.
Martinieri reached base four times, including a triple and she had two RBIs.
"When I got the triple, we were only ahead by one and their pitcher gave me a nice juicy one right down the pipe line," Martinieri said. "But everybody had to play well together to win today. We knew Sarasota had some good hitters."
The Lancers put together a pair of hits and took advantage of three Blazers errors to score the four in the seventh.
"This was anybody's game through the sixth inning, when it was only 2-1 in our favor," Lancers coach Raymond Tapia said. "They have a very good defense and some solid hitters. We knew it would be a tough game and it was."
Kime outduels Johnson to lead Bloomingdale to state semifinals
PALM BEACH GARDENS - Possibly the two best pitchers in the state - Palm Beach Gardens' Amber Johnson and the Bloomingdale's Allison Kime - met for the right to go to state. Kime came out on top.
The heavyweight matchup lived up to the hype - the pitchers combined to for 28 strikeouts - but the game turned on one pitch: Bloomingdale's Tiffany Anderson clubbed a three-run home run to leftfield to cap a four-run third to propel the Bulls to a 4-2 Class 6A victory. The Gators (28-2) and Johnson saw the Bulls reach base in each of the first three innings. Bloomingdale (28-2) put runners on second and third with one out in the second but Johnson (15 strikeouts) escaped by striking out the final two batters.
However, in the third, Johnson couldn't hold the Bulls back. Bloomingdale, thanks to some well-placed hits, again had runners on second and third with one out after Gators third baseman Casey Testa couldn't come up with Kristin Maas' bunt despite a diving attempt. A bloop single to rightfield by Jasmine Rivera (2-for-3) gave Bloomingdale a 1-0 lead, and after a pop out, Anderson homered.
A 4-0 lead looked like plenty behind Kime. The senior right-hander faced the minimum for the first four innings and struck out the side in the first to set the tone.
But the Gators woke up in the fifth with a pair of runs. PBG threatened in the sixth Kime got her 13th strikeout victim of the night to end any threat.
