Laos Books

The Eau Gallie High softball team captured their first state title Tuesday afternoon, beating Harmony 7-2. Here is how they did it.

Eau Gallie is in white but is the road team on the scoreboard and should bat first. Harmony is in dark blue with burnt orange lettering. Harmony uses three pitchers, by the way. None has more than 12 decisions. Today’s starter, Lauren Harris, is 8-2 with a 1.89 ERA. She is also the top hitter, with 27 RBIs, 4 HRs and a .408 batting average. She bats right-handed.
Comparative scores are all over on this one. Check the blog entry below for some notes on that, but add that one of Eau Gallie’s five losses was Braden River , the team Harmony defeated, 2-1, yesterday.

Top of first
Alex Powers doubles down LF line. Gets past LFer and Powers takes third. Mattscheck walks. Eagel singles in both. EAU GALLIE LEADS, 2-0.

Bottom of first
Nothing for Harmony. Two strikeouts. EAU GALLIE LEADS, 2-0.

Top of second.
Katrina Cowan with a leadoff single. After two outs, Harmony is intentionally walking Alex Powers. Fly out to end the inning. EAU GALLIE 2, HARMONY 0.

Bottom of second
Leadoff double almost to the fence. Single to right field. Throw very nearly gets runner at home, but Harmony scores. EAU GALLIE LEADS, 2-1. Nobody out.

Top of third
Engel singles in Autumn Crowther. Engel 5-for-5 at the state tournament with 3 RBIs. EAU GALLIE LEADS, 3-1.

Bottom of the third
Harmony strands a runner at third. EAU GALLIE LEADS, 3-1.

Top of the fourth
Eau Gallie strands two and Rachel Engel gets out on a grounder for the first time in Clermont. She was 5-for-5 until the third out of that inning. EAU GALLIE LEADS, 3-1.

Bottom of fourth
LaFon has six strikeouts through the first 13 plate appearances by Harmony. Illegal pitches are being called and rules are fine, but my problem is they NEVER call it by the rules during the regular season and then they change in the playoffs. It is inconsistent and unfair to players. Rules are fine, but umpires should call them all year instead of changing in the postseason. The runner got to third on two illegal pitches but is stranded. EAU GALLIE STILL LEADS, 3-1.

Top of the fifth
Eau Gallie gets a hit but a double play ends the inning. EAU GALLIE LEADS, 3-1.

Bottom of fifth
Harmony gets a baserunner on a nice bunt and some speedy running, but she is thrown out at second on a steal attempt, Engel-to-Powers. EAU GALLIE LEADS, 3-1.

Top of sixth
Eau Gallie has runners on 2nd and 3rd with two outs. Crowther at the plate. She walks. Engel up with bases loaded. Hit to 3B, who touches the bag. Easy play, but the Harmony 3B has also made some nice plays today. EAU GALLIE LEADS, 3-1

Bottom of sixth
A ball drops in for Harmony and the runner gets to second. Bruns, who had the other RBI, then drives her in. EAU GALLIE LEADS, 3-2. One out, runner on second. But two outs strand her. Going to the seventh.

Top of seventh
Wylie pounds a ball to the fence for a double. She is at third with a Koller hit that pulls the 1B off the bag. Nobody out. 1st and 3rd for EG. Now a strikeout and a fielder’s choice. Two outs with runners at 2nd and 3rd Masso doubles to left. Two score. EAU GALLIE LEADS, 5-2. It looked like it was going out, but huge hit. Powers gets a hit into the OF, and Masso scores. EAU GALLIE LEADS, 6-2. Now it’s 7-2, EAU GALLIE on an error at 2B. Going to the bottom of the seventh. 7-8-9 hitters are up. THey are 0-13 with 10 Ks in the state tournament.