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Lecanto hopes to get its top pitcher healthy
By CAREY FREEMAN © St. Petersburg Times, published April 18, 2001 LECANTO -- Emily Bayer could not make it back from a recent injury fast enough to help Lecanto earn the No. 2 seed in the Class 4A, District 6 tournament, but it might not matter if the sophomore pitcher can make it back by next week. Bayer has seen limited duty since suffering from an overuse injury to her pitching arm in mid-March, and the results have not been pretty for the Panthers. Consecutive losses to district leader Central on March 12 and 27 doomed Lecanto's chances of locking up the top seed. And losses in six of their next 10 games had folks wondering if the Panthers would get out of their tailspin But Lecanto coach Amy Lilley said she is holding high hopes that her sophomore will be back in the regular lineup by the end of the week and her Panthers will return to the form that saw them win eight of their first 11 games. "We have four games this week, and I think that's good," said Lilley, whose Panthers finish the regular season with a doubleheader at South Sumter (Tuesday), a trip to Hernando (Thursday) and a final home game against Springstead (Friday). "We took a nice break last week. Hopefully, they rested and will get back in the swing of things this week and carry it over to next week." Losing the No. 2 seed really doesn't carry much implications in a four-team district, which includes Central, Zephyrhills and Pasco. For Lecanto, it's basically the difference between sitting in the visiting dugout rather than the home one and wearing visiting green rather than white. Even more uplifting for the Panthers is their first-round opponent. Lecanto has split its games with No. 2 seed Pasco but scored a 10-0 mercy-rule win over the Pirates in their last game, which was Bayer's last win on the mound. Since then, Bayer has been in and out of the lineup. Though Lecanto has rallied around senior pitcher Erin Bailey in recent weeks, there is no doubt Lecanto is a better team with Bayer in the lineup. "She's been hitting in practice, and she looks a lot stronger," Lilley said. "I think she'll be ready. We may get her in for a couple of innings tonight just to get her arm going. "We'll have to see how she is tonight, and maybe she'll go a full game against Hernando or Springstead." GCAC HUNT: Like last season, the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference champion will not reside in Citrus County. With just one conference loss, Central leads the conference going into tonight's game against Hernando (two conference losses). If Hernando wins, then Citrus County would figure heavily into who wins the championship. Hernando finishes its GCAC schedule against Lecanto on Thursday while the Bears finish out with a home game against Crystal River on Friday.
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