Prep softball | Mackenzie Meyer's birthday homer seals Lakewood Ranch's region win against East Lake
A little miscommunication in the press box before Lakewood Ranch hosted Tarpon Springs East Lake for a Class 8A-Region 3 quarterfinal at Lakewood Ranch High School led to a mistaken birthday wish over the public address system for Kinsey Goelz. A group of four students next to the P.A. announcer quickly perked up to correct her.
The mistake was simple -- they told her it was Mackenzie's birthday, which sounded similar to Kinsey.
The announcer rushed to amend her error."My bad," she said, and when Mackenzie Meyer was announced as the starting left fielder and No. 6 hitter she was introduced as the "actual birthday girl.
"About an hour and a half after the innocent mishap, Meyer found herself at the plate for one of the most important at-bats of the game. Ranch had a one-run lead against East Lake after outfielder Denali Schappacher's second run with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth.
For Meyer's 17th birthday, she wanted a win and with one swing the outfielder earned her gift. Meyer pulled an inside pitch and curled it around the left-field foul pole to stretch Lakewood Ranch's lead to 5-1 -- an edge which would hold up to send the Mustangs (23-4) into Tuesday's region semifinal against Countryside in Clearwater.Meyer wasn't searching for a home run, even after she doubled on the first pitch of her previous at-bat against Diana Rayder an inning earlier. Ranch focuses on PPAs -- pronounced "p'paws" and standing in for "productive plate appearances" -- and in this situation one of those would be enough to give Lakewood Ranch a cushion.
"Mackenzie Meyer came through clutch," head coach Maggie Feix said. "It was a good birthday present for her."Rayder pounded the Mustangs for rise balls for six innings and held Ranch to five hits.
Her signature pitch made for long plate appearances with foul balls flying over the backstop. She struck out three batters, but also walked six while allowing four earned runs in the complete game.
The foul balls and long at-bats are part of the strategy against a pitcher like Rayder. The goal is to eventually find a rise ball that doesn't rise. Both times for Meyer it was on the first pitch.
"It's really hard to hit a rise ball because it's rising up as your swinging on a level field," Meyer said. "Both times she pitched me level and I took advantage of that opportunity because I knew it wasn't going to happen again."
The Eagles staged one more threat in the top of the sixth inning when a pair of errors loaded the bases just as a finger injury forced starting pitcher Kailey Christian to leave the circle for second base after 5 1/3 innings without an earned run.
Logan Newton stepped over from first base into relief duty and strike out first baseman Ana Holt and induce a groundout from Aliyah Andrews to escape the jam.
Facing the front of the order in the ninth, Newton retired the side in order for the five-out save."It was a tight game, it was an exciting game," Feix said, "and that's why we play this."David Wilson, Herald sports writer, can be reached at 745-7057 or on Twitter
This story was originally published April 20, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Prep softball | Mackenzie Meyer's birthday homer seals Lakewood Ranch's region win against East Lake ."