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Highlands Today

Lake Placid Makes A Name For Itself

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By CHRIS HOFFMAN

Highlands Today

Published: July 11, 2008

EAST LAKELAND - The cheers cascaded over the Lake Placid All-Stars as they stood in the infield on Wednesday and were congratulated by Dixie tournament director Tony Smith.

Parents, fans and coaches alike gave Lake Placid a winner's applause even in defeat, as the team's Cinderella run came to an end with a 6-4 loss to the West Seminole Nationals in the Dixie Youth Majors "O" Zone (ages 11-12) state tournament on Wednesday.

Pitcher Nathan Stanley, who fought off a rough first inning to pitch a gritty complete game and keep his team in contention, wasn't down on himself or his teammates after walking off the tournament field for the final time.

"There's nothing to be sad about," Stanley said. "This is the farthest a Lake Placid Dixie team has ever been. I'm happy for my teammates and for Lake Placid.

"This run might just put Lake Placid on the map."

Nathan's grandfather and LP head coach Ed Stanley beamed with pride when talking about his group of kids, who became the talk of the tournament after dropping their first game and staving off elimination with three straight victories.

"I can't say it enough, but this is a really special team," Coach Stanley said. "They never gave up until the final out. This was a good run for this team. This is something that Lake Placid baseball needed to build its confidence."

Down 6-2 heading into the sixth, the scrappy LP squad wasn't about to go down quietly. Stanley reached base on a single to right, stole second and reached third on Montero's single to put runners on first and third with two outs.

A balk by West Seminole allowed Stanley to score and sent Montero to second. Montero's attempted steal of second caused a fielding error by West Seminole and gave him just enough time to make a diving slide to score and cut the lead to two.

But that is where LP's run would end, as a strikeout sent the Highlands County boys home for the summer.

"This game showed that size doesn't matter," Stanley said. "Both teams were the smallest in the tournament, but here we were playing for a chance at the state title."

A defensive miscue in the first inning put Lake Placid in a five-run hole.

Stanley's fastball looked on target after he struck out the first batter, but a walk to Tristan Buttrum and a single to Cooper Morgan put runners at first and third.

A fielding error by LP allowed Buttrum to score and a chopper up the middle by pitcher Jose Suarez plated two runs. After stealing second, Suarez scored on a bad pick-off throw to third and Christian Arroyo's RBI single into center gave West Seminole a 5-0 lead.

Moments later, thunderstorms dumped rain on the fields and delayed the game for nearly two hours.
Lake Placid was a different team after the rain delay, as Stanley pitched with more effectiveness and found his spots to allow just one run in four innings. The LP defense followed suit, making the plays they didn't in the first.

Tyler Carr beat out a throw to first for an infield single in the fourth. The fleet-footed 11-year old then stole second and reached third on an error before crossing home plate on a passed ball for LP's first run of the ball game.

Josh Montero singled into center and stole a pair of bases before Heath Harris drove him home with a single into left to cut the West Seminole lead to three.

"You can't give up five runs in the first and expect to win," Coach Stanley said. "We made some bad mistakes that we normally don't make. That was the difference in the game."

Chris Hoffman can be reached at 863-386-5827 or choffman@highlandstoday.com.

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