In a game for the ages, two of the top teams in the area squared off on Friday night with Osceola High coming away with a 1-0, 11-inning win over rival Harmony.
The Kowboys, 15-6 on the season, scored the winning run in the bottom of the 11th, when Luis Nunez raced home from third on a wild pitch. The game was a great pitcher’s duel, with neither starter factoring in the decision.
Manuel Lopez, 4-1 with a 0.82 ERA, worked eight innings of four-hit shutout ball for the Kowboys, while Harmony’s ace Pablo Torres matched him with seven innings of five-hit shutout ball. Torres remains 3-0 on the season with a 0.55 ERA for the Longhorns, who dropped to 15-4-1.
“Great win against a great team,” Osceola Head Coach Blake Birchler said. “In the rankings that came out before the game, we were seeded first in our district – slightly ahead of Lake Nona. This will carry a lot of weight as we strive to hold on to that top spot in the districts.”
Birchler added that his team, which started the season 1-3 but has now won five in a row and 12 of their last 14, is starting to round into form.
“We scheduled a lot of tough early competition and started off slowly, but we are starting to get into playoff form,” the veteran coach said. “The Harmony game certainly had a playoff feel to it and both teams gave it their all.”
Harmony remains in good shape in Class 6A, where they should remain the top ranked team in District 6. The Longhorns are an extremely well balanced squad that is hitting .306 as a team and features two outstanding pitchers in Torres and sophomore Clayton Scarborough (1-3, 2.22 ERA).
After beating Osceola 2-0 a few weeks ago, St. Cloud has struggled a bit and has dropped three of four contests, losing close games to Harmony (6- 5), South Lake (4-2) and an extra-inning affair to Cypress Creek (5-4) last Friday. St. Cloud is 10-7 on the season and has regular season games left with Celebration and two with Poinciana. The Bulldogs are in the same district with Harmony and are currently ranked second in the district.
After splitting a pair of games last week, Celebration is 9-6 on the season, but is in the same division as area powers Osceola and Lake Nona. If the regular season ended today, the Storm would play Davenport Ridge (15-3) in the quarterfinal round of the district tournament.
With two weeks to go in the regular season, the records of the other county schools included Gateway (4- 7), Liberty (4-12), Poinciana (2-8) and Tohopekaliga (2- 11).
In softball, Liberty (14-4) saw a nine-game winning streak snapped by Melbourne last week with a 9-3 loss and then dropped their second consecutive game with a 12-6 defeat at the hands of Osceola. Liberty is currently ranked second in Class 6A, District 6 behind Bartow (16-3) and will look to maintain or improve their seeding for the district tournament.
Osceola was the only other county team entering the week with a winning record at 11-9. The Lady Kowboys will look to hold on to their top seeding in Class 7A, District 10 as they have four regular season games left against Cornerstone Baptist, Tohopekaliga and Boone.
St. Cloud, who has played a difficult schedule, was 9-11 on the season but was still ranked second in the Class 6A, District 10 standings behind top-ranked Melbourne (17-2).
Other county records included Poinciana (2-11), Gateway (3-9), Celebration (6-6), and Harmony (2-9).
