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Leopards exact revenge with victory over Bears

By GREG AUMAN

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 19, 2001

BROOKSVILLE -- Try as he might, Ernie Chatman hasn't had much luck downplaying the Hernando-Central rivalry to his players.

"I still try as best I can to say it's just a team on the schedule, and that's the way we need to approach it," the Hernando coach said Wednesday night. "You can't convince them of that. You're not going to do it."

That explains the celebration on the field -- a bit restrained but obvious -- after Hernando avenged a loss 4-1 at Central on Wednesday.

"This is so big. It's just great," said senior Chrissy Hartley, who struck out 10 and improved to 16-2 with the complete-game win. "For us to go through what we did (having four players dismissed and a fifth quit the team) and come back and win, that's just brought our team so much closer."

Hernando hadn't won at Central in four years, and the Bears won at Hernando 3-1 five weeks ago. Central (14-8, 9-2) could have clinched its first Gulf Coast Athletic Conference title with a win, but instead, it now can earn at least a share of the crown with a win Friday against Crystal River. Hernando (23-3, 9-2) can lock up at least a share of first with a win tonight against Lecanto.

Hartley reached base all four times, scoring in the first and seventh on RBI singles by Kimi Olmstead. In between, she kept Central in check, stranding Bear runners in scoring position in five of the first six innings.

Hartley ended three of those innings with strikeouts, none bigger than setting down Jen Clark on three pitches to end the fifth with runners at second and third.

"We didn't bring the runners in. We stranded everybody on base," Central coach Benny Martinez said. "We had as many on base as they did, just about, but we just didn't bring them in."

Hernando, ranked third in Class 3A, actually left even more on base. The Leopards stranded eight, had three thrown out at second and another tagged out at home.

This was off-set by unlikely heroes, including sophomore Scottisha Scrivens, called up from the junior varsity last week. Scrivens had an RBI single in the first then laid down a sacrifice bunt in the sixth to set up the third run.

"That was the first time she had bunted in her life," said Chatman, who pulled Scrivens aside between pitches because she hadn't learned the team's signs. "I told her (Tuesday) in practice, 'There may be one time somewhere that you have to bunt it for us,' and she told me, 'I can't bunt.'

"I called her over (Wednesday) and told her, 'Here's that one time, right here. Just get out in front and tell yourself you can do it.' She did a good job."

Scrivens' bunt advanced Carolyn Gant to second, and she scored on Megan Orendorf's single for a 3-0 lead. Central cut it to 3-1 in the sixth, but Hartley retired the final five batters.

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