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Highlands Today

Tigers Run Past Red Devils

Mark Pinson, Highlands Today

Avon Park's Amber Tindell fires a pitch toward the plate during Friday night's district game against Palmetto.

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By MARK PINSON

Highlands Today

Published: February 22, 2009

AVON PARK - The youthfulness and inexperience of the Avon Park softball squad has appeared at inopportune times this season.

It made an appearance again in the form of three errors in the fourth inning of Friday night's Class 4A-District 10 game against Palmetto and led to a disastrous inning as the Tigers pulled away for a 13-3 win in a game shortened to six innings because of the 10-run mercy rule.

"It seems like every game we play we have one bad inning that bites us," said Red Devil first-year coach Wade Jackson. "You have to tip your hat to Palmetto because it wasn't just us making mistakes, they were flat out hitting the ball.

"We hit some balls hard too, but they were right at somebody."

The win improved the Tigers to 4-1, 3-1, while the loss dropped the Red Devils to 1-3, 1-2.

"The girls have had a good attitude and I told them to stay positive and keep working hard," Jackson said. "We've got some talent, but we're a young team and we improve and learn something with each game we play."

Palmetto, a veteran-laden club, took the lead with two runs in the top of the second inning and tacked on two more in the third for a 4-0 lead.

Avon Park refused to fold and stormed back in the bottom of the frame.

Catcher Ashley Carr reached on a leadoff error and Amber Tindell roped a single down the right-field line off of Palmetto right-hander Tamra Beam.

Second baseman Jamise Perry reached on a fielder's choice and Favianette Cotte drove in a run with a ground out.

Katelynn Stoll followed with an RBI single and Brearnna Tate's run-scoring single plated a run to trim the Red Devils deficit to 4-3.

"I'm really proud of the girls because we never quit fighting," Jackson said. "We came out on the short end, but we played hard and never gave up and that's important."

Palmetto, which banged out 13 hits, answered with an outburst of its own in the top of the fourth inning.

A couple of walks, some errors and a pair of hits scored two runs and Carr came on in relief of Tindell.

Two more hits scored a pair of runs to give the Tigers a commanding 8-3 lead.

Palmetto sealed the win with a five-run explosion in the top of the sixth and Beam, who scattered seven hits to improve to 2-1 on the season, retired the Dragons in order to close out the win.

"We swung the bats better and that's something we've been working on," said Jackson. "We don't like losing, but it's early in the season and we're going to stay positive and keep working hard to get better."

Avon Park is back on the diamond with an away game at Fort Meade on Thursday night.

Mark Pinson can be reached at 863-386-5837 or mpinson@highlandstoday.com.

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