Sebring blasts its way to title

Just shy of 24 hours removed from a 1-1 defensive duel that was delayed a day because of heavy storms, the Sebring and Okeechobee OZone (ages 11-12) All-Stars returned to the Lake June Complex in Lake Placid on Wednesday night to continue the tug-of-war battle for the District 8 championship.

The action picked up in the top of the fifth inning in the middle of what would turn out to be a tide turning at-bat for the Sebring All-Stars as Jordan Baker's pair of two-run homers and Easton Davis' solo shot only accounted for half of a 10-run explosion that propelled Sebring to a 14-8 win.

The District 8 champs never looked back after Baker drove the second pitch of the night high over the right-center field fence to break the 1-1 tie.

Sebring would quickly load the bases after Baker's shot against a stunned Okeechobee squad.

Brandon Ferretti came through with a clutch two-run single and some keen base running from Conner Cook and a run-scoring sacrifice fly from Alex Gomez gave Sebring a 7-1 lead as they prepared to go back through the order with one out still to spare in the top of the fifth.

Alex Forde singled and found him self in scoring position to set up a nearly identical second two-run blast from Baker.

Davis made it back-to-back bombs with a high flying solo homer that would cap Sebring's fifth-inning outburst.

"It lifted us," said Sebring head coach Israel Gomez of Baker's lead-off homer. "I was thinking of some different scenarios but he asked me to just let him hit and put it out.

"After that everyone just started hitting and I knew once we got going it was going to be over."

Forde took the mound in relief of Jonathan Struck and struggled through the first three Okeechobee batters he faced in the bottom of the fifth, but he quickly battled back with a pair of strikeouts that kept the Sebring lead at 11-3.

Sebring tacked on three more runs to make it 14-3 going into the bottom of the sixth, as the Okeechobee offense rolled up its sleeves for one last rally.

Bredan Garcia, Paul Jackson and Trenton Hickman gave Okeechobee a full basket of base runners entering the top portion of the batting order.

Elijah Finney scored one with a floater into right field and Jarred Morgan followed with another RBI single.

Okeechobee had crawled to within six with just one out before Cook, Baker and Davis swiftly executed a 4-6-3 double play to end the rally and clinch the District 8 title.

"Those boys really stepped it up," said Coach Gomez after a nice ice bath. "They finally came up and just started hitting the ball, and I'm very proud of them."

The Sebring All-Stars advanced to the Dixie OZone state tournament in Marianna in July and Coach Gomez expects his squad to be ready to compete with the best teams in the Sunshine State.

"Headed to state it's going to be different," Coach Gomez said. "Our pitching is really deep and now the bats are really starting to come along. This is pretty much the same team that finished runner-up a few years ago.

"So hopefully we can go up there and play well enough to bring home a state championship."