Pitchers Addison Felblinger and Milanys Lopez combined for 16 Ks, one run surrendered
St. Cloud won the pitching duel between Addison Felblinger and Osceola's Milanys Lopez to take the Orange Belt Conference championship Saturday, 1-0, at St. Cloud High.
The game began Friday night at Tohopekaliga High, but a late start and a non-functioning bank of lights in right field that reduced outfield visibility to "mood lighting" forced the game to be suspended after two innings and moved to Saturday.
Before the delay, Harmony (10-8) outslugged Tohopekaliga (7-7), 23-13 in six innings in the third-place game. Lindsay Green and Nicole Yi each drove in four runs for the Longhorns, and Ava Carpenter had four hits including two triples,.
Lopez, the promising freshman, scattered seven hits and struck out eight, but could only by the Bulldogs' junior Felblinger, who helped St. Cloud (16-5) get the third win of the week to earn the Bulldogs their first OBC title since 2019. She also struck out eight, held the Kowboys (12-7) to three hits, and helped her own cause at the plate by driving in the only run.
"It's what we've come to expect from her," St. Cloud Coach Ray Whobrey said. "It means a lot to these girls to win the OBC."
Despite walking the bases loaded in the top of the first, Felblinger struck out the final two batters of the inning to get out of it. Then Maddie Reyes led off the bottom of the first by coaxing a six-pitch walk then advancing to third on Savannah Barlow's infield single. Felblinger then hit a hard grounder to shortstop, and while the only play was to first to get the out, Reyes scored.
Sophia Soto tripled with one out in the second and the Bulldogs loaded the bases on Kacey Pagan's single and another Reyes walk, but Lopez coax a pop fly to end the threat and keep the Kowboys in striking distance before the delay to Saturday.
The pitching duel continued on Saturday, with Felblinger keeping the Osceola hitters off balance, and the Bulldogs' defense keeping Osceola's baserunners -- Faith and Destiny Ferrer and Tenley Dawson's singles were the only hits after the first-inning walks -- from taking extra bases.
With district tournament play coming up in two weeks, the Bulldogs will prep with home games against Ocoee and East River on Tuesday and Friday, wrapped around a trip to Tohopekaliga on Wednesday. Osceola will travel to South Lake on Tuesday and hosts Harmony on Thursday.
