On March 28, Wharton gave Strawberry Crest all it could handle through 10 innings of play. The Lady Chargers won that game, but they made note to keep their guard up.
On Friday night, the teams met again with a district title on the line – and the end result couldn't have been more different.
The Strawberry Crest offense made quick work of the Lady Wildcats, ripping 18 hits en route to an 11-0 mercy rule win in the sixth inning. Pitcher Scottie Todd got the win with a complete game shutout, at times looking dominant and at times escaping from her own jams.
The win is, in head coach Mindy Miltner's opinion, a nice way to celebrate the team's offseason move into Class 8A-District 4.
"That was a great win," Miltner says. "We told (the players) that they needed to come out, get three outs and rip the ball. That's what we did."
Crest got things started by scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning, but played the Lady Wildcats to a stalemate in the next two innings. Wharton's realest threat – loading the bases with one out in the top of the fourth – was quashed when Todd struck out one batter and induced a shallow flyout with the next one.
Though no one knew it at the time, that would end up being the last time Wharton appeared to be a threat. The Lady Chargers kept pouring on the runs, inning after inning, filling up the bases and plunking RBI singles. Todd scored Taylor Finney in the fourth, and Kasey Locke followed by scoring pinch runner Lexi Fox in the next at-bat. Finney scored Ashleigh Vogt and Kaylan Kelly in the fifth on an RBI triple, and Celia Higgins followed by scoring Finney. Rebecca Roberts closed things out in the sixth with a three-RBI triple, scoring Locke, Brianna Moffitt and Vogt.
"We've been working, we've been focusing on it, and they came out hungry," Miltner says.
PLANT CITY
Meanwhile, at Durant High School, Plant City and Riverview got in a pitchers' duel. In the end, freshman Ashley Blessin came out on top, giving the Lady Raiders a 2-0 win for their second consecutive district championship.
Blessin struck out 13 Lady Sharks, and got some run support in the fifth inning with a Savana Garrison sacrifice bunt RBI and a Becca Sorenson RBI double. Plant City's defense was able to keep Riverview off the scoreboard for the next two innings, securing the team's trip to regionals.