DUNEDIN — Lynn Haven Mosley spent the week hitting baseballs all over Englebert Complex. But in Friday night’s final of the Dunedin Invitational Spring Tournament against East Lake, the Dolphins needed pitching and defense.
Pitchers Andrew Deramo and Austin Bizzle scattered three hits and Mosley took advantage of East Lake’s only mistake in a 1-0 win.
“It was really two Goliaths going at it, Goliath vs. Goliath,” East Lake coach Dan Genna said. “We’ve answered the bell all season long, but tonight we just came up a little short. But really, we played four great games in this tournament.”
Mosley, playing in the tournament for the first time, entered the game with a .400 team batting average. But Steven Plaskett, a sophomore making his second start, kept the Dolphins off balance.
After getting Mosley in order to start the game, Plaskett’s only trouble came in the second. Logan Quimuyog led off with a single. One out later, Zach Rhodes doubled to put runners at second and third.
Plaskett then threw a wild pitch that allowed Quimuyog to sprint home from third. Plaskett pitched four innings, giving up four hits and striking out one.
“He really manned up for us,” Genna said. “We rolled the dice a little bit. I told him if he gives us three good innings we’ll take it. He gave us four.”
In four innings, East Lake (15-2) got runners in scoring position but was unable to get a key hit. Runners advanced past first in the third, fourth and fifth innings only to be left there.
The best chance came in the seventh. Tyler Neuhaus led off with a single then stole second. A groundout to second by Ian Lisle moved Neuhaus to third with one out.
But Andrew Prozzillo flew out to first for the second out. After Plaskett was hit by a pitch, Troy Strominger ended the game by grounding sharply to third.
“We have been hitting the ball well all season and in this tournament,” Mosley coach Todd Harless said. “It was actually pretty scary how well we’ve been hitting. But we ran into a good team tonight. They kept us off balance the whole game.”
Brad Deppermann came on in relief of Plaskett and allowed only one hit in his 2 2/3 innings of work. Deramo did not allow a run in the 11 innings he pitched in the tournament and shared the tournament’s pitcher award with Clearwater Central Catholic’s David Paul.
St. Petersburg Catholic’s Max Geller won the hitter’s award after getting nine hits in 13 at-bats. Brady Bell of Mosley was tournament MVP, hitting .571 with eight runs scored.