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By GREG AUMAN
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 6, 2001
After finishing with nine and seven losses the last two seasons, Central is off to a 4-5 start, with four shutouts recorded against the Bears.
"When they get their hitting caps on, there aren't too many teams that can beat them, but when they get their heads down, we get into trouble," coach Benny Martinez said after dropping three of four games in the Suncoast Softball Tournament over the weekend.
The Bears were held to three hits in a 2-0 loss to Ridgewood and one hit -- for the second time this season -- in a 7-0 loss to River Ridge on Saturday.
Martinez said his team has had trouble replacing the leadership and presence that twins Jamie and Jen Pape offered before their graduation last summer.
"I can't expect everyone to perform the way Jen Pape did," Martinez said. "The losses in the tournament didn't count as anything other than a loss in the loss column."
Central did enter Monday night's game at Citrus undefeated in conference and district play, but two of the Bears' four wins have come against a young Springstead squad.
The Bears are averaging 11.5 runs in their victories, but have just one run total in their losses.
"We're hitting in bunches or we're not hitting at all," said Martinez, who hopes a three-game stretch this week against Citrus, South Sumter and Pasco can turn his team around.
"I look at this as an opportunity to get things going in the right direction," he said.
Central has two hitters batting over .400 in third baseman Heather Krasniewski (.417) and catcher Shauna Dampier (.414), who also pace the club with 8 and 9 RBI, respectively.
STRANGE BUT TRUE: If there was a good side to South Sumter pulling out of the Suncoast Tournament at the last minute, it allowed Dunnellon to leave Brooksville early Saturday, in time to watch the school's boys basketball team win a regional final on its home court that afternoon.
Dunnellon handed Hernando its first loss of the season, 8-3 on Saturday morning, which created a three-way tie in the four-team pool.
River Ridge was 2-1 in pool play, and all three teams had one victory and one loss against the other two squads.
The tie-breaker then went to runs allowed. Dunnellon had allowed 16, River Ridge 10 and Hernando nine, putting the Leopards in the championship game against Ridgewood.
Dunnellon could have played Citrus, the third seed from the other pool, in the fifth-place game Saturday afternoon but opted to hurry back home.
Crystal River, which had gone 0-3 in pool play, battled the Hurricanes instead.
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT: Hernando coach Ernie Chatman was disappointed with his team's play in the tournament, especially Saturday's loss to Dunnellon.
"Just ugly, lethargic," said Chatman, whose Leopards didn't manage a hit until the sixth inning, down by eight runs.
"We weren't striking out, but we were popping everything up, and that's worse," he said. "We didn't play good defense either."
The Leopards (6-1) ended the weekend on a strong note, shutting down previously unbeaten Ridgewood 7-1 in the championship game.
Hernando starter Chrissy Hartley (4-0) gave up her first earned run of the season, putting her ERA at 0.28 with a county-best 49 strikeouts.
Catcher Ashley Rogers drove in two runs for the Leopards, giving her a team-high six RBI for the season.
Rogers leads the Hernando starters with a .400 average, just ahead of junior Kimi Olmstead's .391 mark.
The Leopards, who debuted at No. 10 on Sunday in the first Times Tampa Bay Top 10 of the season, travel to Spring Hill to face Springstead tonight, when temperatures could drop into the high 30s during a midweek cold spell.