SPRING HILL – Anyone driving past Springstead High at about 7:15 p.m. Wednesday night might still be wondering where that yellow thing came from.
It was a softball off the bat of Lady Eagles catcher Paige Pfent, who hit a towering home run in the bottom of the first inning of a Class 6A, District 6 semifinal against Lecanto.
The solo shot easily cleared two fences in left field and landed in the left-hand northbound lane of Mariner Boulevard, then bounced across the rest of the busy five-lane road and finally came to a stop in the grass across the street.
“I honestly didn’t know it was going that far. When I saw it bouncing on Mariner, it was pretty cool,” Pfent said. “I kind of just saw it. She left it up the middle and I got a good hit on it.
“I really think it got everybody going. It got the dugout going. It got our coaches confident, and I think it kind of set the tone for everybody to hit.”
Fortunately, no accidents were caused by Pfent’s blast, which opened up the scoring as top-seeded Springstead cruised to a 9-1 victory over the fifth-seeded Lady Panthers, locking up a regional berth and advancing to Thursday’s title game against Crystal River.
“We had beaten Lecanto both times,” Springstead head coach Craig Swartout said. “They’re a good team, but I think they knew they really had to play a perfect game to be able to play with us, and when Paige hit the home run you could just see the air kind of go out. And in the first inning, and that was big. Because it was important for us to get on the board first tonight, no doubt.”
It’s the third time in a game the past two seasons that Pfent has reached Mariner, and the sophomore catcher who leads the Lady Eagles (24-1) with 10 homers said she has hit a few more that far in practice.
Swartout, in his 14th season at the helm, can only recall one other player hitting Mariner, Hilary Fiocca. The field was reversed in the late ‘90s so that home plate faced west toward the road.
That was the start of a big game for Pfent. She went 4-for-4, adding a pair of two-run singles in the second and third innings and a triple off the right-field wall in the sixth.
“I was really seeing the ball today,” Pfent said. “Our motto is one game at a time, and working one game at a time. I saw the ball really well tonight and as a team we just came together and pulled it off.”
Springstead scored three in the second, with Emily Kolwicz chipping in a RBI single, and five in the third helped by five Lecanto (10-15) errors and a passed ball. That was plenty of support for Kama Woodall, who was perfect in all but the fourth, giving up the one run on two hits over seven innings, striking out 11.
“We came out and we made a few adjustments at the plate, hit the ball well. Defensively we were ready to go. I was pleased with the effort tonight. It was a good team win,” Swartout said. “I want to make sure that we stay focused and are heading on an upward trajectory.
“I think this is our 20th win in a row. We just want to keep moving forward. We have to play good because Crystal River has really played two very good games, and if we don’t come out ready to play then we can be beat.”
“I think we’re looking for the same approach,” Pfent said. “Crystal River can hit. We saw they can hit tonight in their game (14-5 win over Dunnellon). So we’re looking to hit our spots pitching, and really play hard defense and get the bat on the ball.”
Follow Chris Bernhardt Jr. on Twitter @cpbernhardtjr.