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Spongers Get Early Boost With Win Over PHU

Tarpon Springs 5, PHU 1

By Eric Horchy | The Suncoast News

Published: February 16, 2008

TARPON SPRINGS - TARPON SPRINGS - The Tarpon Springs High School softball girls took the field with a little more drive than usual Friday night.

As if the season's first meeting with reigning four-time district champions Palm Harbor University was not motivating enough, the Spongers spent part of their day before game time listening to none other than the personification of inspiration himself, Rudy Rudiger.

Yes, that Rudy.

"We had a great day today," Tarpon Springs head coach Steve Plummer said. "We were invited to a seminar where Rudy spoke, so we went as a team and were very inspired."

The Spongers parlayed that added emotion into a strong 5-1 victory behind the clutch pitching of freshman Jessica Allen and two big, team-effort innings at the plate.

"The girls told me today that they were going to have their best game, and they sure did," Plummer said. "They knew they had to make plays and they did it."

Tarpon dialed up the scoreboard first, crossing the plate three times in the third inning.

Junior shortstop Jen Hunter and Allen both contributed RBI doubles.

The lead was increased to 5-0 in the sixth with the Spongers mixing in some infield singles, situational hitting and heads-up base running.

Tarpon's first five batters each finished with an RBI apiece on the night.

The Spongers defense did commit three errors, but stepped up when it counted most to rally behind Allen's craftsmanship on the mound.

The freshman pitched with at least one runner on base in six of the complete seven innings she tossed. The only Hurricane run Allen allowed was in the last frame, when Curly Powell connected for an RBI single to plate Courtney Pavlock.

Palm Harbor starting pitcher Courtney O'Connell also went the full seven innings in a losing effort.

Blending quality off-speed pitches with her hard fastball, she was dominant at times, and racked up seven strikeouts.

The Spongers next game will be Tuesday night when they play host to another district foe, Clearwater High.

Palm Harbor also hits the field at home Tuesday afternoon to play Largo High at 4 p.m.

Palm Harbor 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 – 1- 7- 0
Tarpon Springs 0 0 3 0 0 2 x – 5- 10- 3

WP – Allen (TS)
LP – O'Connell (PHU)

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