Prep softball | Palmetto squanders bases-loaded opportunity, bow out of district tournament against Sarasota
PALMETTO -- The best chance for Palmetto to complete a rally against Sarasota in the Class 8A-District 8 semifinals Tuesday was also its last.
The Tigers erased an early four-run deficit to tie the score during the fourth inning before the Sailors inched back ahead in fifth at Blackstone Park. The bases were loaded for PHS in the bottom of the frame with one out and the top of the order at the plate. The Tigers came away with nothing.
"I had complete faith in our team that we could come through with hits," head coach Tammy Stinton said. "It just didn't fall into our favor."
Sarasota turned around and put three more runs on the board in the sixth, then tacked on an insurance run in the seventh to pull out an 11-5 win against PHS in Palmetto. For the second straight year, the Tigers' season ends with a loss to the Sailors in the district tournament. Sarasota will meet Lakewood Ranch for the Class 8A-8 title Thursday at Lakewood Ranch Park.
When Emme Wingate
rolled an easy ground ball to first base to end PHS' fifth-inning rally, it was another two-out shortfall for Palmetto. With the aid of a Sailor error in the fourth, the Tigers managed a trio of two-out runs, but Sarasota lived an out away from the end of its innings. To ice the game, the Sailors cranked out three runs of their own in the top of the sixth.
Taylor Davis got two quick outs for PHS (11-10) before Abby Wishart launched a home run over the center-field fence to double Sarasota's lead. A parade of hits followed -- four straight singles by Emily Campbell, Victoria Martin, Lexi Johns and Claire Mizen-Halperin -- and the Sailors' lead ballooned to four runs.
"We gave too many second chances to them," Stinton said.
Davis pitched four innings of relief for Palmetto, allowing five earned runs on eight hits and three walks with only one strikeout. Lexi Albero countered with a dominant 3 1/3 innings of relief work. Albero scattered three hits and three walks, struck out four and shut out the Tigers for the second half of the Sailors' first postseason victory.
Despite failing to convert the bases-loaded opportunity in the fifth, Wingate was still PHS' most productive offensive player. The No. 2 hitter went 2 for 3 with a walk and scored three of Palmetto's five runs. She is one of four seniors who were playing in their final game as Tigers.
And it was a game they knew could swing either way. PHS and Sarasota split a pair of regular-season meetings and tied for second place in the district. A coin toss meant Palmetto's four seniors -- although one was sidelined with a concussion -- got to play their final game at home. The two teams were too even to let glaring opportunities slip away.
"We knew it was going to be a game," Stinton said. "We knew that we were going to come out playing hard and we knew that they would, too."
This story was originally published April 12, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Prep softball | Palmetto squanders bases-loaded opportunity, bow out of district tournament against Sarasota ."