Nothing but peace and understanding

Coaches insist there are no hostilities.

By JOEY KNIGHT
Published April 5, 2007

TAMPA - While the stakes surrounding tonight's highly anticipated Plant-Hillsborough rematch are enormous, both coaches insist the hostilities are not.

Plant's Dennis Braun and Hillsborough's Ken White say any animosity stemming from the teams' first meeting, a 17-10 Hillsborough triumph at Plant, has subsided.

In that March 6 contest, a Terriers pitcher was ejected for throwing at a Plant hitter, a Hillsborough assistant later was tossed for arguing with an umpire, and Braun refused to allow his team to take part in the postgame handshake.

But on Wednesday, Braun said he and White have since cleared the air. "I don't hold things for very long," Braun said.

"I never thought there was really any bad blood between us," White added. "It was the first game, but now both teams are looking at the district (race) as a whole."

With two Class 5A, District 10 games remaining for each, Plant (14-4, 8-2) leads the district by a game over Middleton and Hillsborough (14-5, 9-3).

Joey Knight, Times staff writer

[Last modified April 4, 2007, 23:55:32]