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No Late Game Magic For Sebring

CHRIS HOFFMAN/Highlands Today

Sebring's Ely White waits for the ball as West Seminole's Kasey McDonald slides into second base during the second inning of the Dixie "O" Zone state tournament in Lakeland on Saturday.

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By Christopher  Hoffman | Highlands Today

Published: July 6, 2008

EAST LAKELAND — Sebring was looking for that late-game magic once again, but all they received was a sobering wake-up call in the opening round of the Dixie Youth Majors (ages 11-12) "O" Zone state tournament in East Lakeland on Saturday.

The West Seminole National squad scored six unanswered runs to rally from a two-run deficit and Sebring's own come-from--behind bid fell short in the 9-7 loss.

"We can't always go into the sixth inning trying to win the game," said Sebring head coach Charlie White to his team after the game. "What we did in Lake Placid, we might never do that again."

Just three weeks ago, Sebring defeated Lake Placid on Ty Little's walk-off grand slam to win the District 8 title, but those heroics are few and far between in tournament play and White tried to get that point across.

"We didn't play our best today at all," White said. "A lot of things were building to that one inning. We made errors in too many areas. We just didn't play up to our potential."

The inning in question was the fateful fifth where West Seminole scored four runs on four hits, but it was the Sebring fielding errors that led to three of the four runs that could've ended the inning.

Sebring pitcher Garrett Deross had the perfect setup, as he had one runner on and struck out two and looked to be able to get out of the inning unscathed, but back-to-back miscues in the field led to a run and put runner's on second and third.

West Seminole's Tristan Buttrum found the gap down the left-field line that went to the fence for a two-run stand-up double. Moments later Buttrum cruised home on a double by J.J. Eshenbach for a 9-5 lead.

The loss dropped Sebring into the loser's bracket where they faced top-seeded Poinciana at 3 p.m. on Sunday.

Results were not available at press time. Check Tuesday's Highlands Today for complete coverage.

After a gut-check by White and his staff, Sebring got their rally caps on and went to work.

With one out, Ty Little got on base after being hit squarely in the back by a pitch, he then proceeded to steal second to get into scoring position and Deross followed with an RBI double to center field.

Trying to steal third, Deross was hit by the pickoff throw that went into the outfield that gave him enough time to slide into home to trim the West Seminole lead to just two, but that's when the cheering stopped.

West Seminole forced a ground-out and struck out the final Sebring batter to halt the comeback bid.

When asked if the heat or recent inactivity played a part in the loss, White refused to use that as an excuse.

"If this team's going to win, they're going to have to give 100 percent all the time," White said. "We were rained out of numerous practices and that hurt us, but I am not going to use that as a crutch for the way this team played today."

Sebring was effective coming from behind early in the game.

Down 3-1 and with Alex Forde on second in the fourth inning, Sebring's Ryan Davidson crushed a 240-foot home run into deep center field to tie the game. That energized Sebring, who had looked listless in the game's early going.

Jacob Hamilton drew a walk, stole second and reached third on a balk by West Seminole before trotting home on an infield hit by Tyler Bertoniere.

Deross, who scored Sebring's first run on an RBI single by Chris Hensley in the first inning, hit a double into center to score Little from second for a 5-3 lead.

West Seminole tied the game in the bottom half of the fourth that was set up by a Sebring fielding error. With the bases loaded, McDonald hit into a fielder's choice at second but heads-up base running plated a pair of runs to tie the game at five.

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