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Home Track and Field Crapo’s 2 homers send OHS into district semifinals
Crapo’s 2 homers send OHS into district semifinals PDF Print E-mail
Sports
Thursday, 22 April 2010 08:15
By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor
Kaley Crapo went yard – twice – and because of that the Osceola Lady Kowboys are in the 5A District 5 softball tournament semifinal round today at 7:30 p.m. against top-seeded Lake Wales.
Crapo, the team’s senior catcher, smacked Winter Haven pitcher Lauren Abou’s fastball over the left field fence for a three-run homer in the fifth inning that put OHS up, 7-5, on its way to an 11-5 victory Tuesday at Lady Kowboys field.
Crapo delivered an encore in the sixth inning, driving another ball over the 220-foot fence for two more RBIs. For the night, she was 2-for-2 with 5 RBIs, scoring three times.
“I hadn’t hit a home run all year, until tonight,” she said.
In fact, Coach George Coffey said it has been three seasons since Crapo homered.
“She was a freshman,” he said. “She did pick a nice time to do it again.”
Crapo, batting cleanup, and No. 3 hitter Alexa Ballard, who went 3-for-3 and drove in two runs, combined to go 5-for-5, score five runs and drive in seven.
Kenya Pereira earned the victory for OHS, 18-8.
The winner of today’s game between OHS and Lake Wales will play the 5:30 p.m. semifinal winner for the district championship Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Lady Kowboy field. The tournament was bumped back one day because of rain Monday.
Rain delayed the semifinal round of the 4A-6 tournament at Harmony Tuesday, where St. Cloud was set to meet top-seeded Eustis and the host Longhorns were to play Tavares. Those games were moved to Wednesday. The winners meet today at 7 p.m. Harmony is the two-time defending champion and a regional finalist last year.
Osceola scored three times in the bottom of the first Tuesday to take a 3-1 lead against Winter Haven when shortstop Nicole Osterman doubled, Bianca Torres reached on an error and Ballard drove in Osterman with an infield grounder.
Torres scored on a passed ball. Crapo drew a walk and scored on Pereira’s triple.
But OHS didn’t do much at the plate from that point, earning the team a loud lecture from Coffey in the middle of the fifth inning.
“I didn’t want to see us lose this opportunity because we had become complacent,” Coffey said. “This team is a lot like me; when I become excited and energized, so do they. It was time to put that in front of them, and it seemed to work, at least this time.”
Osterman (2-for-4, two runs) doubled sharply down the left field line to begin Osceola’s six-run fifth inning, when it sent 11 batters to the plate. Torres followed with a single and Ballard drove in Osterman with a single, bringing Crapo to the plate.
“I wasn’t thinking about hitting a home run. I just wanted to hit the ball hard,” she said.
Ballard said Crapo’s home run was nice, but, “I would have been more impressed if she had hit it over the baseball field,” the third baseman joked.
Pereira walked, and pinch runner Sasha Mendez advanced when Kelly Brosious reached on an error. Mendez scored on Morgan Crapo’s infield grounder, then Jessica Callahan’s single brought in Brosious to make it 9-5.
Coffey said his team faces a formidable challenge today against Lake Wales, the Class 4A state runner-up last season.
“Nobody gives us a chance, except us,” he said. “We’ve played them close twice this year; we know we can play with them. And, it’s on our field, even though we won’t be the home team (because of seeding). It’s going to be fun.”
The Lady Kowboys brought momentum into the tournament after winning the White bracket at the Naples tournament last weekend. OHS defeated Gulf Coast, 6-5; Fort Myers, 12-5 and Estero, 9-1, for the championship. Haley Wright pitched the title game.
“We’ve been playing very well lately, after that stretch where we had eight games (in two weeks),” Coffey said. “I think if that had worked out a little differently, we could have won two or three of those games.”
At the 4A-6 tournament at Harmony Monday, St. Cloud, 14-7, advanced with a 10-0 win over county rival Poinciana as Lady Bulldog pitcher Sam Gale struck out 11 and hit a three-run homer.
Celebration saw its season end, 4-1, against Tavares.
“We had runners on in six of seven innings, and we gave away a couple of runs,” Storm Coach Ed Kuzma said. “We didn’t win because we didn’t produce.”
Storm pitcher Jessica Kraus ended her career with 847 strikeouts, a county record.
Gateway, 5-14, advanced to the semifinals of the 6A District 6 tournament after a 9-6 win over Palm Bay Bayside Monday as Alejandra Abreu earned the victory.  The Lady Panthers lost, 4-0, to Vero Beach in the semifinal round Tuesday.
District champions and runners-up go to the regional tournaments Tuesday.
 

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