PALM HARBOR — Palm Harbor University held a 3-1 lead for nearly the duration of its game with district rival East Lake but watched incredulously as the Eagles rallied in the seventh inning to tie.
As quickly as the lead evaporated though, the Hurricanes responded in the bottom half of the seventh Thursday to win 4-3.
"I told them when we came in the huddle (in the middle of the seventh), 'every game this season you've scored in the first inning. You're going to score now. This is the first inning. You've got 1, 2 and 3 up. Let's go,' " PHU coach Chuck Poetter said.
PHU leadoff batter Sarah Broeseker stroked a single to rightfield to start. Broeseker reached second on a sacrifice bunt by Lindsay Fenlon. Madson O'Brien flew out to leftfield, but Jackie Katchuk's hard-hit ground ball through the legs of East Lake shortstop Alyssa Weaver proved to be the winner.
"We have amazing hitters, and we have all the confidence in the world," Broeseker said. "But our pitcher didn't deserve that. She was awesome. She's so composed for a freshman."
PHU southpaw Taylor Sabol (7-0) battled her way out of sticky situations all evening. Sabol was staked to an early three-run lead after O'Brien's groundout brought home a run in the first inning and Laura Herndon followed three batters later with a two-run double.
East Lake (5-3) got a run back in the third on Hayley Davis' sacrifice fly to deep centerfield, but Sabol buckled down for much of the rest of the game.
With a runner on second and one out in the sixth, Sabol induced two fly ball outs to keep PHU (8-1) in the lead.
In the seventh though, Alicia Welsh singled to open the inning. Sarah Schutz doubled to put runners on second and third. Kirsten Bembnowski lined out, but Sydney Dinelli laced a double over the leftfielder's head to tie the game at 3.
"Just like last year, all last year," East Lake coach Mike Estes said. "Every time we needed a two-out hit in a big game, she did it. She beat Palm Harbor last year with a big hit. We just didn't get any help around her after that."
The rally was short-lived as Broeseker crossed the plate for the winning run minutes later.
"Our offense has scored an awful lot of runs this year," Poetter said. "For us to shut down, we got real anxious on the bases and ran a few times when we weren't supposed to. But that's OK. We're young. We have 10 freshmen."
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