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Highlands Today

Appeal Takes Away Sebring American Victory

CONTROVERSIAL ENDING ELIMINATES ALL-STARS

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By Brian Gjurgevich | Highlands Today

Published: July 2, 2008

PAXTON — The Sebring American All-Stars thought they'd beaten Bushnell and advanced to the next round at the State AA Pitching Machine tournament after a thrilling rally on Tuesday night in the bottom of the sixth inning.

But the victory celebration was short-lived, and a subsequent appeal took two runs of the scoreboard and handed Bushnell a 20-19 victory, eliminating Sebring from the tourney.

Down two runs with the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth, Sebring scored three runs on a bases-clearing hit in its final at-bat, but a protest by the opposing coach nullified two of the runs and ruled Bushnell the victor.

The issue was whether a Sebring runner — who represented the tying run — made contact with the Bushnell catcher on his way to home plate. The call on the field was that the tying run — and the subsequent winning run — both counted, but the tournament protest committee overruled the umpire's decision and Sebring was eliminated from the tournament.

"This is like a soap opera," said Sebring coach Eric Lewis. "The kids are fine, but we're all disappointed."

Lewis said the would-be-game-winning single scored the first runner from third easily, and he sent the next runner as the ball was making its way to the infield. The throw home was over the catcher's head, but the would-be-tying-runner "nudged" the catcher's right shoulder, sending him falling back.

The umpire didn't rule there was interference since there wouldn't have been a play at the plate, Lewis said, and the overthrow allowed what appeared to be the winning run to score from first base.

"I wouldn't have sent him if I knew the play was going to be close," Lewis said. "If there's no play, [the runner] doesn't have to slide.

"[The contact] was inadvertent, and [the umpire] was walking off the field when the other coach said 'We'd like to protest.' "

The subsequent decision was that the second runner was out, taking two runs off the board on a night the Sebring bats came alive.

"We should've went for two instead of kicking the extra point," joked Lewis.

Everett Hurst and Hunter Martinez each went 5 for 5, Gabe Gomez and Dalton Baker were 4 for 5, and Scott Hamilton, Logan Gregis and Brian Lane each finished 3 for 5. Seth Hamilton was 2 for 5, while Jace Lewis and Trent Lewis each had hits.

"I'm just so proud of the them," said Lewis, who noted the game didn't finish until after midnight. "They were resilient and fought through adversity and didn't lay down.
"They all grew some whiskers in this game."

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