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Palm Harbor avoids ouster

By DAVID BIRKETT

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 18, 2000

TAYLOR, Mich. -- Cody Rainer pitched his second complete game in four days, and Palm Harbor National finally got some offensive production to beat South Vineland (N.J.) 6-1 Thursday in the losers' bracket of the Junior League World Series. Palm Harbor faces the winner of Thursday's late game between Guam and Baxter Springs, Kan., at 5 p.m. today. If it wins, it plays again at 8 p.m. for a spot in Saturday's championship. "There are only four teams left in the world. These kids aren't giving in to anybody," Palm Harbor manager John Petika said. "They really believe they can win. They don't have any fear. They want to get back out there and play ball."

After waiting through a rain delay of 1 hour, 22 minutes, Palm Harbor, which scored just one run in its first two games, struck for three with two outs in the first inning.

Walks put runners on first and second, and John Petika Jr. delivered a run-scoring single off of the fence in left-centerfield. Ryan Fons followed with an RBI single to right, and Mike Grande added an RBI walk. Grande went 1-for-1 with two RBI, a run scored and three walks.

"If you give Cody three runs, you've got a very good chance," the elder Petika said. "He's pitching the best he's ever pitched." South Vineland scored an unearned run on two hits, two walks and a wild pitch strikeout in the bottom of the inning, but Rainer allowed just one hit the rest of the way. For the game, he walked four and struck out nine.

"The first inning really got us pumped up," Rainer said. "We just decided we wanted to win this game and keep going. I knew that if I could just get ground balls, we'd make the plays with no problem."

Big League softball

Dunedin allowed five runs in the fifth and fell to Southern Maryland 7-2 in Kalamazoo, Mich. Dunedin trailed 1-0 after the first but scored two in the second. Southern Maryland responded with single runs in the third and fourth before blowing the game open in the fifth.

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