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Highlands Today

Sebring Pre-Majors Ousted From State Tourney

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By BRIAN GJURGEVICH Highlands Today

Published: July 14, 2008

CHIPLEY - The Sebring All-Stars ran into a slew of solid pitching, a load of tough defense, and a bit of bad luck this weekend at the Dixie Youth Pre-Majors (ages 15-16) state tournament.

"We had a few hits, we just couldn't get any of them to come together," said Sebring head coach Bob Hoffner. "We just couldn't get anything going."
Sebring fell 9-1 to Snead on Sunday and 10-0 to Marion County on Saturday and were eliminated from the tournament.

Hoffner said Sebring's team was unique in that it was the only squad made up of players from one school, as opposed to other teams comprised of a county's All-Stars.

"We faced a lot of good pitching this weekend," Hoffner said. "This being a high school team, I felt like we did pretty well."
Matt Randall was 2 for 3 at the plate to provide Sebring's lone spark on offense on Sunday, but big innings in each game haunted the boys in blue.

On Saturday, Josh Chavis had a double, and Josh Acevedo and Jesse Baker each added singles, but it was all the offense the Sebring team could muster against a talented Marion County squad, which was fresh off a tournament in Alabama.

"It was one of those games where we hit it right at someone every time," said Sebring assistant coach Scott Hoffner. "We had a bunch of great defensive plays, they just had one blowout inning, and the score looks worse than the game was."

The game was knotted at zero after three innings when Marion struck, scoring five runs in the fourth.

"That's what killed us," Scott Hoffner said, noting Marion County's pitcher racked up nine strikeouts on the game.

The loss marks the end of the summer season for the Sebring Pre-Major All-Stars, though Bob Hoffner said his team showed some heart during the games.

"The games weren't like the score appears," he said. "We kept them both close, but they'd have a big inning and open it up."

Brian Gjurgevich can be reached at 863-386-5841 or bgjurgevich@highlandstoday.com.

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