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Okeechobee Sinks Sebring

CHRIS HOFFMAN/Highlands Today

Okeechobee's Will Jackson scores as Sebring pitcher Gunnar Westergom waits for the throw during the third inning of Thursday night's Dixie Boys (age 14) District 8 championship game at the Okeechobee Sports Complex.

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By Christopher  Hoffman | Highlands Today

Published: July 4, 2008

OKEECHOBEE — Celebrations began as soon as the ball left the bat and once again, it wasn't the boys in blue doing the celebrating.

For the second consecutive year, Sebring couldn't exercise the Okeechobee curse, as Timmy Farrell's walk-off three-run homer to center gave the host team a 13-1 six-inning, mercy-rule victory in the championship final of the Dixie Boys (age 14) District 8 tournament at Okeechobee Sports Complex on Thursday evening.

"Another One Bites The Dust" by Queen was blasted through the loudspeaker, as Farrell homered for the second time in the game for the first two in his playing career, and was congratulated after the game by the Sebring players, many of which are his teammates on an AAU team.

The game was delayed for five-plus hours due to a major storm cell that flooded the ball fields and took three air-boats to disperse the water from the infield so play could continue.

Under the cover of darkness, Okeechobee used the five hours of rest to their advantage, as they jumped on Sebring from the onset, including a solo home run by Mark Weir to take a 2-0 lead and never looked back.

Sebring outfielder Zach Osha sensed a change in his team soon after the ball left the yard.

"We gave up right after that first home run," Osha said. "I could see it in their eyes. We played with no heart in that second game. I'm still trying to figure out what happened."

Sebring forced a tiebreaker to decide the district championship after beating Okeechobee 6-5 in eight innings on Thursday afternoon, but the rains soon blanketed the area and forced the delay of the final.

"I think the delay really hurt us," Sebring head coach Shone Abeln said. "The boys were cooling their heels and this long delay took a bit out of us. We weren't as sharp as we were earlier in the day.

"I think the team gave up too early."

"We need a hit, not a hero," was being yelled to the Sebring players before their at-bats by some fans in the cheering section.

Against Okeechobee's Austin Hamilton, Sebring couldn't muster many hits, as a deceptive curveball and a steady diet of fastballs limited the visitors to just seven hits with eight strikeouts in six innings of play.

"We just couldn't string together some hits to get a rally going," Abeln said. "We were out-pitched tonight. [Hamilton] pitched a great game and I'm not going to take anything away from him."

Sebring had more than one baserunner on only two occasions during the game and came away with one run.

In the sixth, Felix Balsulto doubled into center and stole third before Osha's RBI single into right brought home Sebring's lone run.

Okeechobee extended it's lead to 5-0 on back-to-back RBI walks in the second and Farrell's first homer — a solo blast into right — in the third that put Sebring on it's heels.

Sebring began swining at bad pitches and several questionable calls by the umpires sent tempers into the stratosphere.

Fans and coaches argued calls from the umpires with tensions nearing a boiling point late in the game, but Abeln said that the game didn't come down to balls and strikes.

"You can argue balls and strikes, but in the end, you have to put more than just one run on the board," Abeln said. "I wished we could've rolled right into the next game and capitalized on the momentum we'd built up, but this is baseball."

When asked about the future, Abeln couldn't say for sure, but there could be a change in youth baseball.

"I know the board is looking at either Little League or the Babe Ruth League right now," Abeln said. "The calls have been made and it's on the plate to maybe make a change. It's up to the board to decide."

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