Lady Bulls Outlast Durant In Extra Innings

The Lady Bulls outlasted Durant on Tuesday night scoring the winning run in the bottom of the eight inning to win, 6-5.

Coming into Tuesday nigh'ts game, Bloomingdale (8-7-0, 4-1-0, second place, 6A Division 8) had questions regarding pitching. Questions about their own staff and those of Durant's (10-4-0, 7-0-0, first place 5A Division 8) seemingly un-hittable pitchers. In the end, the Lady Bulls overcame every obstacle and came out victorious against one of Hillsborough County's toughest softball teams.

Durant senior Lauren Wolfe came into Tuesday's game with an impressive resume that included six wins and 60-plus strikeouts. The Lady Bulls worked through the first two innings oblivious to any of the clout Wolfe carried as she surrendered six runs and a season-high ERA of 14.00. Bloomingdale wasted no time and jumped out to an early 5-0 lead, all while batting .545 as a team.

Among the Bloomingdale bats were two of its most recent shining stars: Darby Bernaldo and Jordan Alexander. Among them they produced six hits, scored three runs and drove in 1 RBI with a BA of .750. Combined, Bloomingdale batted .438 against the arms of the "un-hittable" Cougars.

After replacing Wolfe in the second, sophomore Paige Davis would pitch an impressive 5.1 innings for Durant, allowing only one run with an ERA of 1.31. It was that run in the eighth that gave Bloomingdale their dramatic victory.

As did Durant's ace Wolfe, Bloomingdale's Lauren Phillips struggled against the fiesty bats of the Cougars. She did, however, pitch a solid five innings that gave up five earned runs on seven hits.

Former Bulls starter Leah Pemberton was called from the Bulls' pen in the sixth inning. The reliever went on to strike out two Durant batters and pitch a scoreless three innings as she picked up the win for the Lady Bulls.

The Lady Bulls have now won five games in a row and will face three conference opponents in the next three weeks in Plant, Brandon and Alonso.

Box Score

The Lady Bulls will host River Ridge on March 25 at 7 p.m.