Andy Villamarzo, Times Correspondent
Friday, February 18, 2011
NEW PORT RICHEY — Mitchell has gone through a lot in its first three games of the season.
Mitchell first came across an inspired Wiregrass Ranch bunch that rolled over the Mustangs 8-2. Tuesday, Mitchell narrowly defeated county power Pasco 1-0.
But one thing has just not clicked yet for the Mustangs: Their bats.
Friday night changed all that, as the Mustangs' bats came alive and racked up 10 hits. They took advantage of four errors by Gulf and took care of the Buccaneers 10-0 in five innings.
"We hit the ball well tonight," Mitchell coach Scott Bisbe said. "Bats came alive tonight. Cori (Williams) pitched another great game tonight. We got 16 girls in the game tonight. The girls played a lot more relaxed tonight then they did against Pasco. It was just a real solid game all around."
Mitchell (2-1) opened the scoring in the top of the first inning off an Amber Maxey wild pitch that scored freshman Paige Davis from third. The next batter, Miranda Moye, singled home Heather Muccino to give the Mustangs a 2-0 lead.
The top of third would turn into a nightmare for Gulf (2-1), as the Buccaneers started off by committing an error then Maxey (two strikeouts) walked the next batter and Muccino singled to center to load the bases.
From there Mitchell scored six runs off three errors and one base hit to take a commanding 8-0 advantage.
Gulf got only one hit off Williams, who struck out four and walked two in five innings.
"Everything that went right for two games seemed to all fall apart in one game," Gulf coach Rick Hohenthaner said. "I had far better expectations for the result. They were ready and we weren't, bottom line."