West Pasco pair packs powerful district punch

By IZZY GOULD
Published June 28, 2007

BROOKSVILLE - Call it west side dominance.

In a show of power West Pasco Dixie Softball sent two teams through last weekend's district tournament in Brooksville where they swept the competition and advanced to next month's state tournament in Sneads.

West Pasco's Ponytails 11-12 year olds outscored opponents 63-2 to win its four games, advancing to state. The Angels (9-10) outscored four opponents 62-2 to advance. The state tournament begins July 6.

"To be honest we did expect to be that dominant, " Ponytails coach Frank Guerico said. "That's a lot to win by. I figured there would be a team or two that gave us a run. But we only gave up two hits the entire tournament."

The Ponytails got off to a powerful start with a 22-0 win over host Brooksville. That was followed by a 15-1 win over Wesley Chapel, 10-0 win against Spring Hill and 16-1 victory Tuesday against East Pasco for the district title.

Guercio made it clear this was a team effort, but noted pitchers Cori Williams, Chelsey Freeman and Jordan Fowler played big roles. Freeman won two games, Williams picked up a win and Fowler got four saves. Two of those wins came within four innings thanks to plenty of West Pasco offense.

Also of note was catcher Jada Clemmons, who caught five of seven would-be base stealers. On the other end of those throws was Lauren Thompson at shortstop. Williams also knocked out a couple of key hits, but she wasn't alone.

"Every single kid had at least a couple of hits, " Guerico said. "And their on-base percentage skyrocketed because they walked so many times."

Guerico has coached two teams to the Dixie World Series with fifth- and third-place finishes.

"This time I'm hoping we can win it, " Guerico said. "I think we have a good shot."

The Angels' tournament got off to a late start, really late. A rain delay Friday pushed the start of their game to 10:30 p.m., the second game of the night.

West Pasco was up 21-0 when the game was called after three innings at 12:15 a.m. Saturday.

The Angels returned later that day for a 9-2 win over Spring Hill in which ace Madison Morlan stuck out 15 for the complete-game victory.

West Pasco went on to win 19-0 against Brooksville, then defeated Spring Hill 19-0 Tuesday for the title and a state berth.

"I hate to say it but it was kind of anticipated, " West Pasco Angels coach Candy Moore said of marching through the district tournament. "We tried not to talk about it too much. We had a lot of pitching depth in our teams."

Morlan, Madison Taniloiu, Melissa Moore and Julie Allen combined to give the Angels a dominant pitching rotation.

"We also had some good hitting, " Moore said. "Spring Hill was the team that was the most competitive. They had more talent than the other teams. They didn't have a lot of speed in their pitching."

Izzy Gould can be reached at igould@tampabay.com or (727) 580-5315.

[Last modified June 27, 2007, 21:45:46]