Harmony hangs on for 8-6 win vs. OHS

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Harmony hangs on for 8-6 win vs. OHS

Sports

Friday, 26 March 2010 08:02

By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor
No one should have been surprised when the Orange Belt Conference softball championship was decided during a wild and wacky slugfest at Harmony field Thursday.
The host Longhorns won, 8-6, in a game that more resembled a 12-round heavyweight fight that left the winner almost as punch drunk as the loser.
“I’m not surprised at all, because these games are always close,” Harmony Coach Ralph King said.
Osceola, 12-6, was playing its eighth game in 11 days, but the Lady Kowboys jumped on top in the first inning when Bianca Torres hit her fourth triple of the week and scored on Alexa Ballard’s single to take a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the inning, Longhorn pitcher Breann Vanderzyl launched a shot over the center field fence to tie the score.
“Breann has been lighting it up since the preseason, so we thought it would be a good idea to move her up to No. 3,” King said.
That strategy paid off Thursday as Vanderzyl, who also pitched seven innings to earn the victory, had three hits, including a single in the sixth inning that drove in outfielder Taylor Ellis with what proved to be the winning run.
Nichole Osterman’s solo homer in the third put OHS on top 2-1, but Osceola’s defense unraveled in the bottom of the third when two errors allowed the Longhorns to score four times. First baseman Emily Lanier’s two-run single, knocking in Brittany Bruns and Vanderzyl, was the key hit.
Down 6-2 in the fifth, Osceola scored twice with the help of three Harmony errors. Morgan Crapo, who singled, scored on her sister Kaley Crapo’s infield grounder. Osterman, who singled, later crossed on an error.
“We made a couple of errors that helped them get back in it, but we didn’t lose our composure,” King said. “I told the girls that we needed to get two more runs.”
Harmony, 9-3, gained valuable insurance in the bottom of the sixth when Ellis singled, took second on Bruns’ sacrifice bunt, and scored on Vanderzyl’s single. Lauren Harris followed with a double to right center, but Osterman’s relay cut down Vanderzyl at the plate, keeping it 7-4. One batter later, Harris scored on Osceola’s fifth error of the night, making it 8-4.
The Kowgirls didn’t quit. Ballard drew a walk, and first baseman Carmen Nadal drilled a homer to right to pull OHS within two before Vanderzyl retired the final batter on a popup to catcher Payton Dering.
“I can’t put into words how proud I am of these girls,” Osceola Coach George Coffey said. “I know they are running on reserves, but they come out night after night and give everything they have. They never stop fighting, and that’s what you saw here tonight.”
King, who guided his team to the regional finals last season, said the annual battles against OHS help his team.
“Osceola always puts a good, solid team on the field, and our girls look forward to these games. It’s an honor to play against a team like that, the way Coach Coffey has built that program,” King said. “This is a great win for our girls; you need to play games against the good competition like we’re going to see next week at the (Kissimmee) Klassic and after that at the Dunnellon tournament. It makes you better.”
Harmony plays Jacksonville Mandarin Thursday at 4:30 p.m. in the first round of the Klassic, the 48-team tournament that draws many of the state’s elite programs to the Osceola County Softball Complex.
Osceola meets Cocoa Space Coast at 8 p.m. St. Cloud takes on Sebastian River at 4:30 p.m.
Games Thursday begin at 1 p.m. Action Friday and April 3 starts at 9 a.m. The semifinal round April 3 starts at 2:15 p.m., with the finals set for 6 p.m.