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SPC blanks CCC behind no-hitter

Angela Vidal strikes out 18 as the Barons beat the Marauders 7-0.

By JOHN SCHWARB and LINDA ROTHSTEIN

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 9, 2001

CLEARWATER -- There are high standards, and then there are Angela Vidal's standards.

How did the St. Petersburg Catholic pitcher spend her Thursday afternoon? Vidal tossed a no-hitter at rival Clearwater Central Catholic in a 7-0 victory, striking out 18 Marauders along the way.

But afterward, there was no celebrating by the ace hurler. Only tears.

"She was upset because she didn't pitch well," St. Petersburg Catholic coach Tom Fabian said without a trace of sarcasm.

"She throws a lot better than that. She did good enough to get by."

Granted, Vidal walked five batters, and the slumping-of-late Marauder hitters were their own worst enemy by swinging at pitches out of the zone. But the sophomore's overall performance was, at worst, dominating. At best,it was terrific, especially from the game's midpoint on.

Leading off the fourth, Laura Falla flied out to center. It was the only ball hit out of the infield by the Marauders all day and the last of three put in play the whole game. From there, each of the last 11 outs was a strikeout.

"My curveball was working pretty good, and they weren't hitting it," Vidal said. "So it all worked out."

Since missing the first portion of the season with pneumonia, Vidal has started three games and has yet to give up a run.

"We're just trying to get her back into shape," Fabian said. "She's still not that ready yet."

SPC (7-2 overall, 4-0 Class 3A, District 9) got all of the runs it needed in the first inning thanks largely to CCC's defense.

Alicia Fudge and Vidal reached on errors. Amy Brassuer's grounder to second was misplayed, allowing Fudge to score.

Jenny Feola then smashed a triple that rolled all the way to the leftfield fence, scoring Vidal and Brassuer. Feola scored on a squeeze bunt by Danielle Gaudet.

CCC (2-6, 1-3) committed seven errors in the game.

"When we commit seven errors and give ourselves one inning to work with, putting three balls in play, you're not going to win," CCC coach Dion Weaver said. -- JOHN SCHWARB

Tornadoes edge Gators

LAND O'LAKES -- Land O'Lakes closed the gap but not enough, losing for the second time to Clearwater 3-2.

The Tornadoes won their last meeting, in February, 6-3.

"I think defensively we played really well," Clearwater coach Brian Mont said. "When we needed to, we got the base hits and, fortunately, scored enough runs to keep them off."

Clearwater scored the winning run in the fourth. Third baseman Star Jones reached on an error, advanced to second on a sacrifice, to third on a passed ball and scored on a groundout. -- LINDA ROTHSTEIN

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