BROOKSVILLE – In winning its first baseball district championship since 2002, Central High dominated at the plate. The Bears scored a combined 26 runs across three games in last week’s Class 5A, District 7 Tournament, yet that momentum failed to carry over Thursday night. Hosting a 5A-Region II quarterfinal against Dunedin, Central couldn’t find a way to solve Falcons ace Colton Widdows, falling 2-0.
“I’m proud as hell of these guys,” Central head coach Al Sorrentino said. “Look at all the people here from our school to support these kids. It’s been 13 years since the last district championship and they played hard. It was a tough opponent. That’s a very good team. “He’s (Widdows) a good pitcher. There were a couple of things we’ve been working on that we didn’t execute tonight, but you have to give him all the credit in the world. We
battled.”
Dunedin (23-6) struck early, with Trevor Jensen and Ian Lisle leading off the game with back-to-back singles. Cleanup hitter Tim Luth lifted a fly ball to left field with one out,
plenty deep enough for Jensen to scamper home.
From that point the Bears’ (18-11) starter, senior southpaw Thomas Sorrentino, settled in. He tossed a complete game scattering four hits, two walks and a hit batter, yielding one earned run while striking out seven.
“He got off to a little bit of a slow start the first couple innings. He wasn’t quite as sharp,” Coach Sorrentino said of his son. “But from the third inning on he did what Thomas does.” Thomas Sorrentino came in 4-4 with a 1.78 earned run average on the season.”I just started spotting my pitches better, getting out of the middle of the plate,” the younger Sorrentino said.
Unfortunately for the local crew, they could never muster much of a rally against Widdows. The Bears stranded runners on the corners with two outs in the bottom of the third, but only managed to get two men into scoring position all night. Dunedin scratched across an insurance run in the top of the seventh when a two-out grounder to second resulted in a one-hop throw that the first baseman couldn’t scoop.
After two quick outs in the bottom of the frame, Central got a base hit from pinch hitter Trevor Muller. However, the next batter hit into a force at second to end the contest. Widdows permitted five singles and two walks with seven strikeouts in his six shutout innings. “He’s a really good pitcher,” Thomas Sorrentino said. “We did everything we could at the plate. We just couldn’t get that big hit.”
Despite the loss, the Bears could boast their finest campaign in over a decade. “I think it’s great for the school,” Thomas Sorrentino said. “It’s (a district title) something that hasn’t been done here in 13 years and I’m glad it was us that finally did it.”
Correction: We reported Widdows tossed a complete-game shutout but it was actually six shutout innings. Someone else pitched the seventh inning.
