BROOKSVILLE — With the regular season winding down, the seeding for the Class 4A, District 8 tournament is becoming more important.
Seeding was at stake in a key 6-3 victory for Zephyrhills over Nature Coast on Tuesday night.
The Bulldogs (11-4) were one game ahead of the Sharks (9-6) coming in. After getting to Nature Coast starter Ashley Antczak early, Zephyrhills went up 6-0 by the top of the third inning.
Bulldogs starter Kaitlyn Hutchinson is still gaining stamina after offseason knee surgery and got the win in her longest outing of the season. She went five innings, surrendering only two earned runs while striking out three and walking one. Lauren Pasquale picked up the save by pitching two innings of shutout ball.
"We've been doing all the little things you need to do to win offensively," Zephyrhills coach Craig Milburn said. "We've had a balanced effort all season, and that continued tonight."
The Bulldogs took advantage of early mistakes. Antczak walked two of the first three batters. It took only two ground balls to knock in two runs in the opening inning.
Zephyrhills rightfielder Christin Boettcher scored one of the first two runs and knocked in two more with a double in the second inning. She finished 2-for-4.
Baseball
Land O'Lakes 13,
Zephyrhills 1 (5 innings)
LAND O'LAKES — David Perez had not hit a home run since sometime last year with the junior varsity team.
It seemed inevitable to Land O'Lakes coach Calvin Baisley that his bat would get hot, and it did against Zephyrhills as Perez hit two home runs in a five-inning victory.
"Honestly, the only thing that surprises me is that it took this long," Baisley said about Perez's first home runs with the varsity.
The Gators (10-4) got a good performance from Jason Garcia, who allowed one run on 86 pitches, struck out eight and walked five.
"Once Jason calmed down, he did fine," Baisley said. "Once he starts throwing strikes he is in good shape because he has good stuff."
Zephyrhills (10-4) took a 1-0 lead in the first inning but the Gators tied the game in the bottom of the inning on a Curt Hilgenburg (2-of-4, four RBIs) groundout that scored J.J. Downum (2-of-3, double) from third.
Land O'Lakes led 5-1 after scoring four in the second inning and quickly added to that lead. Perez hit the first of his two home runs and sent a Jason Wilcox (two strikeouts) offering deep and over the leftfield wall.
"It feels good," Perez said. "I just took extra batting practice and I hit the ball hard tonight."
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