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By PETE YOUNG
© St. Petersburg Times, published July 28, 2001
Three days into the American Legion A Southwest Area Tournament, Sarasota Baseball Club is the lone unbeaten team after beating St. Petersburg Post 14 2-1 on Friday.
Post 14, which drew a bye Wednesday as the top seed in the seven-team tournament, beat Holiday Post 79 12-5 Thursday. Ryan Heacox (Shorecrest/Stetson) went eight innings to earn the win.
Mike Giroud (Shorecrest/East Tennessee State) and Rich Tribou (Northeast) each had two hits and a double as Post 14 had 14 hits.
Post 14 must win two games today to earn a rematch with Sarasota in Sunday's final. Both the winner and runner-up will advance to the state tournament beginning Wednesday in Sanford.
Madeira Beach Post 273 was 1-1 after the first two days, beating Gulfport Post 125 11-0 on Wednesday but losing 2-0 to Sarasota Baseball Club on Thursday. Todd Redmond (Northside Christian) was the winning pitcher Wednesday.
Post 273 played Manatee Post 24 (0-1) in an elimination game late Friday. In Friday's other elimination game, Venice Post 159 (2-1) beat Post 79 (1-2) 5-2. Post 125 was eliminated Thursday.
LITTLE LEAGUE: Last year, Palm Harbor won the state title in juniors, Pinellas Park National in seniors. Palm Harbor placed third in the World Series, Pinellas Park National second.
In seniors this year, both have numerous players from last year. So, as might have been expected, their showdown in the Section 4 tournament produced two epic duels Wednesday. Pinellas Park National recovered from a 3-2 loss to Venice in its first game to win three in a row and meet Palm Harbor for the title, with Pinellas Park National needing to win twice. In the first game, it led 3-2 entering the seventh before tacking on four runs for a 7-2 win.
The second game was played immediately after the first and didn't end until after midnight. It was 1-0 Palm Harbor entering the bottom of the fifth before Palm Harbor pulled away for the 6-0 win.
"It was a five-hour doubleheader, two close games, under pressure. It took an incredible energy level to win that game," Palm Harbor coach John Petika said. "It was a game that was real easy to lose and real hard to win."
The difference was Dunedin High rising junior Ryan Harvey. Harvey struck out 12 in going the distance.
Palm Harbor plays the Section 1 champion in the state tournament at 7 p.m. today in DeLand. If it wins, it plays at 7 p.m. Sunday. It it loses, it plays at 5 p.m. Sunday.