Cape Jr. knocked out 5-3
As Tampa Junior League All-Star pitchers Sarah Miller and Rachel Hampton continued to pick up strike calls on the outside corner – and in other borderline locations – they kept on throwing to those spots.
It made for some difficult and frustrating at-bats for Cape Coral hitters throughout Tuesday’s Southeast Regional Softball Tournament semifinals game at Fleishman Park.
Of the 13 strikeouts by Cape hitters in their 5-3 loss, seven were called third strikes. Many of them painted the outside edge of the strike zone.
“I couldn’t see it from where I was,” Cape manager Bob Nuccio said. “If (the umpire) is calling it there we have to swing at it.”
Cape’s run to the Junior League Softball World Series ended after a strong showing in the Southeast Regional.
After falling behind 3-0 in the top of the second inning Tuesday, Cape responded quickly with two runs in the bottom of the second, but was unable to put together a late surge as the game remained close.
Cape opened pool play in the Southeast Regional Saturday with a 6-0 victory over Georgia, and continued with a hard fought 4-3 win in nine innings over North Carolina Monday.
They needed a victory over Tampa Tuesday to advance to Wednesday’s championship game.
“I thought we had a good tournament,” Nuccio said. “Between the three coaches (including Pablo Plaza and Chris England), it was a lot of work for us trying to practice every night, but I think it all worked out and they fought to the end.”
Jessica Nuccio started on the mound for Cape and worked 5 2/3 innings. She had a strong tournament overall, going 3-for-4 at the plate in Cape’s opening pool play win and smacked two doubles in Monday’s win.
Cape mustered only five hits Tuesday. Sami Fisher went 2-for-3 to lead the offense.
After a scoreless first inning, Tampa struck for three runs in the second. Shannon Taylor led off with a single and the first two runs scored on back-to-back RBI doubles by Sabrina Ciuzio and Alexis Jackson. Taylor Newman added an RBI single.
In the bottom of the second, Cape put two runners on courtesy of a walk by Emily England and single by Fisher.
With two outs, Tori Fields delivered a two-run single to center, which scored Fisher and pinch-runner Myranda Reed.
The teams traded runs in the third and fourth innings, which included a third RBI by Fields on a sacrifice fly.
That run made it 4-3, but Tampa tacked on a key insurance run in the top of the sixth making Cape’s comeback attempt even more difficult.
Tampa’s pitching was another problem. Miller pitched the first for Tampa and re-entered in the fifth, working four innings overall. She fanned nine batters, including seven in the final three innings.
In the bottom of the seventh, Cape’s Nykol Smith lined a single up the middle with two outs, bringing the tying run to the plate, but Tampa managed to close it out and advance to the championship game at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday against Pulaski, Tenn. (4-0), which eliminated Morganton, N.C., 7-5.
“We tried,” Nuccio said. “We had some base runners and tried to get things rolling, but they had pretty good pitching.”
Tampa 031 001 0 – 5 9 0
Cape Coral 020 100 0 – 3 5 2
W – Sarah Miller. L – Jessica Nuccio.
2B – Sabrina Ciuzio (T), Alexis Jackson (T).