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Sebring stays alive

Matt Flowers/Highlands Today

Lake Placid's Ricky Miller is safe at third base as Sebring's Bubba Boston makes the late tag during Saturday's Dixie Boys (14) District 8 tournament at Max Long Recreational Complex.

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By MATT FLOWERS For Highlands Today

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 29, 2009

Updated:

SEBRING - No team wants to fall into the loser's bracket and work their way up.

But that's the position the Sebring and Lake Placid All-Stars faced in day two of the Dixie Boys (age 14) District 8 tournament Saturday at Max Long Recreational Complex.

Both teams were in survival mode having suffered losses in Friday night's opening round of the five-team, double elimination tournament.

But a strong offensive showing in the first two innings and a solid game from the defense gave Sebring a chance to fight another day as they eliminated Lake Placid with an 8-2 victory.

A day removed from being blanked by Avon Park in a game where they produced just two hits, the Sebring offense responded to head coach Juan Acevedo's call for more hits by racking up 11 against Lake Placid.

The Sebring infield also looked much more polished than the day before with an errorless game until one meaningless slip in the final inning.

Not to say it would ever be in the scheme of things, but the Sebring All-Stars seemed to shine the brightest under the pressure of elimination.

"It's a position that, unfortunately, we put ourselves in," said Coach Acevedo. "When you're in this position you have to battle. You have to play your absolute best every inning because you don't get another chance.

"Maybe sometimes, for some teams, it's better to play that way."

Sebring wasted no time announcing that they were still contenders for the District 8 title starting with a base running clinic put on by leadoff man Gus Garcia, who eventually walked home on Justin Acevedo's single into center field.

A run-scoring double from Johnny Vega and an RBI single from Dalton Helvey gave Sebring a 3-0 first-inning lead.

Lake Placid pitcher Heath Harris seemed to cool down the Sebring attack in the top of the second, but Sebring managed to load the bags, making way for Bubba Boston's run-scoring floater down the third-base line.

A Lake Placid defensive error then gave Sebring a 5-1 lead.

Josh Montero drove in Ricky Miller in the bottom of the third and the LP defense tightened up the loose ends to keep Sebring from adding any more runs before rain delayed the action for more than an hour in the bottom of the fifth inning.

A collective effort quickly dried the field after the rain subsided and the Sebring bats came back with the sun.

Vega landed his second double of the day in the top of the sixth and Helvey again followed with a single as Sebring extended it lead to six.

A quick 6-3 double play and a strikeout from Acevedo closed the curtain on Lake Placid's tournament run and placed Sebring in another elimination contest with Clewiston on Sunday.

Sebring 11, Clewiston 1

The Sebring All-Stars stormed out to a big lead and never looked back in eliminating Clewiston by a score of 11-1 in the Dixie Boys (14) District 8 tournament on Sunday afternoon at Max Long Recreational Complex. The win kept once-beaten Sebring alive in the double-elimination tournament and sets up a game at 7 tonight against undefeated Okeechobee. The winner of the Sebring versus Okeechobee contest moves on to play Avon Park on Tuesday night.

Avon Park 9, Clewiston 1

Avon Park continued to climb up the winner's bracket of the Dixie Boys (age 14) District 8 tournament with a 9-1 win over Clewiston Saturday at Max Long Recreational Complex.

After jumping to a 2-0 lead in the first, Billy Rogers and Alfred Brown put AP in the driver's seat with back-to-back home runs in the bottom of third inning.

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