Sports
Lady Bulls Defeat Tough Raven Team On The Road
The Lady Bulls increased their lead in the post-season with a win at Alonso on Friday night.
Bloomingdale pitching outlasted the Alonso bats as the Lady Bulls pulled off a tough road win, 2-1, in Tampa on Friday.
With the win, Bloomingdale (14-9-0, 6-2-0, second place, 6A District 8) kept pace with Plant in the district standings as Alonso (15-7-0, 4-4-0, third place, 6A District 8) is now essentially ruled out of post-season play.
Since coming off of a very impressive sweep in their March tournament, Bloomingdale has won three of its last four games, losing only to Plant, 2-0.
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The most impressive swing in the success has been Bloomingdale's pitching.
Since a tough end in the month February and a rocky start to the month of March, the Lady Bulls pitching staff have been nearly unbeatable while shutting six different teams out and allowing two runs or less in 13 games.
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Friday's victory against Alonso was another impressive performance by Bloomingdale's Leah Pemberton. The junior pitcher has posted four wins in six starts this season. On Friday, she pitched 5.1 innings of 3-hit softball, blanking the Ravens for nearly six straight innings.
Pemberton was relieved by freshman Emily Whitworth in the middle of the fifth inning as she tossed two strong innings allowing only one Alonso run as she earned the save for the Bulls.
Alonso's ace, Erika Shick, gave Bloomingdale all they could handle as she allowed only six hits while giving up 2 runs through seven innings of work. In all, the Lady Bulls put together six hits and a .200 BA against one of Hillsborough County's best pitchers.
Bloomingdale's first basemen Marlie Braddy and junior Abbey Hensley would drive in the lone runs, one in each of the first two innings, that gave the Lady Bulls a 2-0 lead they would not surrender.
With only five hits in the game, the Alonso offense did not find their usual rhythm as they did not get their offense into a scoring position against until the bottom of the seventh inning.
The Lady Bulls trail Plant by one game in the 6A District 8 race. Plant has two nondivision games scheduled against Sickles and Plant City left on their schedule.
Bloomingdale also has two remaining games against nondivision teams. They will travel to Tampa to play Freedom on Wednesday, April 13, and host their final regular season home game against Hillsborough on Friday, April 15.
