PLANT CITY — From one Ashley to another Ashley, it was amazing.
Plant City freshman right-hander Ashley Blessin threw a two-hit complete game masterpiece, and Raiders second-year coach Ashley Bullion won back-to-back district championships in a 2-0 victory Friday against Riverview in Class 8A, District 6 play.
Top-seeded Plant City (23-2) scored two fifth-inning runs, and Blessin made them stand up with a 13-strikeout performance against the No. 2 Sharks (15-10).
"(Blessin) really emptied the gas tank, and she gave it all she had," Bullion said. "This is what we play for, and she was ready for postseason. She's been a huge asset to our team."
Only one Riverview player, catcher Kaia LoPreste, got a hit off Blessin — both doubles to the fence in the fourth and seventh innings.
Blessin, 15, struck out at least one batter in every inning, and struck out the side on 10 pitches in the third. Fifty-nine of her 85 pitches were strikes, including 19 of 25 first-pitch strikes. She walked one and hit a batter.
"I like to get ahead (in the count) so I can throw my pitch, and they don't get any great hits," said Blessin, who mixes in curveballs to both sides of the plate with changeups and risers. "I pitched amazing, and the defense played their hearts out for me."
Plant City's defense was never bigger than in the fourth with the game scoreless. With one out, Raider third baseman Becca Sorenson snared a grounder near the line by losing pitcher Haley Murphy, and with one knee on the ground, threw out the Shark. LoPreste followed with a double to right, which arguably could have scored Murphy. Blessin escaped the jam with one of her eight swinging strikeouts.
"Becca is amazing," Blessin said. "Once she got on one knee, I knew that she had the out. She's the best."
In the fifth, a Sorenson double highlighted Plant City's two-run rally. Alexis Moore, the Raiders' No. 8 hitter, started the inning by being hit by a pitch. Two pitches later, Savana Garrison laid down a bunt to the Riverview third baseman, who threw wildly past first. The three-base error allowed Moore to score, and Sorenson drove home Garrison with her two-base hit.
"I think we set the tone in the first inning when Ashley struck out those two batters," Bullion said. "Then (Sorenson) making a play like that just keeps the momentum going. We take the momentum from defense and put it to offense."
Said Blessin: "Winning district is a big accomplishment. … It's amazing."