Land O'Lakes closes in on final

By JOHN C. COTEY
Published June 28, 2007

Land O'Lakes' A team rallied from a three-run deficit to beat New Tampa's A team 11-6 in a matchup of unbeatens Tuesday night in the 9-10 District 25 championships at New Tampa Little League.

The victory puts Land O'Lakes within one game of the championship. Today it will take on the winner of the game between the New Tampa teams played Wednesday night.

Whichever New Tampa team emerges will have to beat Land O'Lakes 3-0 twice in the double-elimination tourney. If Land O'Lakes can't wrap up the title tonight at 7, it will get another chance Friday at 7 p.m.

FIRE STARTERS: The fast-starting West Pasco 9-10-year-old team did it again Tuesday, scoring 12 runs in the first inning and cruising to an 18-1 win over West Pinellas in the District 12 tournament at Safety Harbor. The victory clinches a second-place finish in its pool, sending it to Friday's single-elimination quarterfinals where it will meet either Oldsmar or Safety Harbor.

West Pasco, which scored nine runs in the first inning of a victory over Holiday earlier, put West Pinellas in a hole just as quickly. Harrison Keslar was 3-for-3 with a double, triple and four runs scored, Tyler Hawks was 3-for-3 with four RBIs and Max Martin, Blaize Grabowski, Elliot Desvergnes and Ryan Johnston reached base at least twice and scored twice. Holiday wrapped up play Wednesday against East Lake, needing to win by 20 runs in order to keep its season alive.

DIXIE BASEBALL: San Antonio's 13-year-old all-star team from the Pasco Dixie Youth Baseball league beat Oak Griner 11-4 Tuesday and plays for the district title tonight against Spring Hill at 7 p.m. in Oak Griner. Matt Wynne picked up the win pitching and was 2-for-3 with three RBIs, and lead-off hitter Ryan Scharber hit two home runs, including a three-run shot in the fifth inning, and a double. San Antonio has secured a spot in the State Dixie League Tournament in Grand Ridge July 21-27.

Little League results can be e-mailed to johncotey@gmail.com.

[Last modified June 27, 2007, 21:42:20]