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Highlands Today

Red Devils Blank Tigers

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By Mark  Pinson | Highlands Today

Published: February 17, 2008

AVON PARK — Ashton Shirey has started the softball season on fire.

The Avon Park senior hurler tossed a complete-game three hitter and also banged out two hits with one RBI to lead the Red Devils to a 7-0 victory over Palmetto in a Class 4A-District 10 game on Friday night.

Shirey, who has an assortment of pitches, utilized her change-up and curveball to strikeout six, and the hard-throwing right-hander allowed only one walk.

"I felt confident tonight and had a pretty good game," said Shirey. "My curveball and change-up were working good, and once we got the lead, I threw strikes and let our awesome defense do the rest."

The win improved Avon Park, which has a talented, senior-laden squad, to 6-1 overall and 2-0 in district play.

"We played good enough to win, but not as good as we can," said veteran Red Devil coach Mike Cobb. "But to go where we want to go this year, we'll have to play much better.

"Ashton's been hot on the mound and at the plate for us to start the season and she had a great game tonight."

Avon Park jumped on top in the bottom of the first inning.

Leadoff batter and senior Julie Lamb was hit by a pitch and senior second baseman Logan Palmer followed with a single to right field.

Tiger right-hander Sarah Hime got the next two outs, but Shirey lined a single to left-center field to score Lamb for a 1-0 lead.

Neither team could muster much offense until the Red Devils mounted a threat in the bottom of the fifth.

Lamb, who went 2 for 2, ripped a double to the fence in right-center field and scored on an error on the Tigers shortstop on a hard-hit ball by senior Heather Barnes.

Shirey cruised through the Palmetto (2-2, 1-1) order with ease until the sixth inning when a pair of two-out singles brought the go-ahead run to the plate.

Shirey got first baseman Taylor Lewis to line out to center fielder Missy Lander, who made a nice running catch, to end the threat.

Avon Park, which had seven hits, sealed the win with five runs in the bottom of the frame with the aid of three Tigers' errors.

Barnes capped the inning with a two-run single.

"It's not that we can't do it, it's that we don't stay focused all the time," said Cobb. "We have a talented team and we need to put in the extra work to be a great team.

"It's all about the girls, if we're going to do anything this year these seniors are going to have to lead us and we're going to have to play hard all the time."

The Red Devils are back in action on Tuesday with an away game at Mulberry.

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