PLANT CITY — Emily Register admitted being “a little bit nervous” before, arguably, the biggest at-bat of her senior season. Plant City’s second baseman stepped out of the box, had a word with coach Maggie Feix and took a deep breath.
“We have this thing called senioring up,” Register said. “So I had to senior up.”
That she did.
Register’s two-run single broke open a scoreless game, and Plant City used a four-run fifth inning to avenge its only district loss of the season, defeating Strawberry Crest 4-0 on Thursday.
“We came out here ready to play our game in our house,” Raiders coach Maggie Feix said. “I told (Register) that you’ve been here before and you’re going to do it again.”
It appeared the Raiders might squander their best opportunity of the night in the fifth. Plant City loaded the bases with no one out, but Sammy Tyler got a pair of forceouts at the plate. Register then lined an outside curveball into the right-centerfield gap, giving the Raiders a 2-0 lead.
“(Tyler) always goes outside, outside, outside,” Register said. “That’s where she works me every time I face her.”
Kacie Booth followed with a two-run single of her own to push the lead to 4-0.
Noelle Dietrich scattered eight hits and struck out three in a complete game. The victory moved the Raiders (15-4) and Chargers (16-2) into a first-place tie atop 7A-7 at 7-1.