State dreams end for two teams, remain for another

By Chris Wagenheim
Published July 24, 2007

It was a bittersweet weekend for the Land O'Lakes 10- to 11-year-old Little League softball team.

Despite going 1-2 at state, coach Kenny Cochran and his team was happy about its performance. The girls dropped their first game Friday 14-3 against West Tampa, but bounced back 14-13 against Bloomingdale on Saturday.

"I am proud of our team and our effort," Cochran said. "That Bloomingdale team has a solid program from top to bottom, so I was quite pleased to walk away with a victory; 1-2 is a lot better than 0-3."

Land O'Lakes also played Cape Coral on Saturday. The Cape Coral team had won its first two games 19-0 and 16-1 before facing Land O'Lakes.

Land O'Lakes stayed with Cape Coral through three innings, and though Cape Coral won 13-2, it was the most points scored against the team and the least points scored by it to that point in the tournament.

9-10 BASEBALL: For a West Pasco team that was usually so dominant, state was a bit of a letdown, as the all-stars lost their first two games of the tournament.

"Both games, were just heartbreaking," coach Dave Grabowski said.

In the 4-2 loss to Apopka, West Pasco stranded 14 runners and loaded the bases three times.

"We are not used to losing those types of games," Grabowski said.

The situation seemed better Saturday when West Pasco went up 4-2 on Rockledge in the top of the sixth. Grabowski knew he needed to win the next two games, so he held No. 2 pitcher Tyler Hawks. An error and two walks, however, forced Grabowski to bring in Hawks to try to get out of the jam.

But sacrifice flys and line drives ended the game and West Pasco's postseason. Rockledge went on to win 5-4.

West Pasco fell 12-7 to Niceville on Sunday and Grabowski took the game as an opportunity to let some boys play positions they had not played before.

Despite the losses, Grabowski said his team was happy about what it had accomplished.

"They were ecstatic (about going this far); they had fun," Grabowski said. "It will be a time they never forget. The coaches and parents took it much harder than anyone else did."

SENIOR BASEBALL: Land O'Lakes clawed its way to a state championship berth and will play at Windermere on Friday.

Belmont was Land O'Lakes' first obstacle to state and things were locked up in the fourth inning, coach Scott Hilgenberg said.

With the game tied at 1 and the bases loaded, Joe Connely hit a grand slam to put his team up 5-1.

Belmont came back to tie in the top of the 5th and it took another home run to win it 6-5. This time the blast came from Jason Carrier, who hit the walk-off shot in the sixth inning.

Land O'Lakes faced Lake Wales on Sunday. The game went extra innings, with Land O'Lakes coming out on top 3-2 in the eighth.

[Last modified July 23, 2007, 22:18:45]