Tarner and the Hornets Come Back to Rout Bears on the Road

The Weeki Wachee Hornets (4-7) fell behind early but came back to overwhelm the Central Bears (1-7) to the tune of 9-3 during their midweek matchup. The Navy and Silver would draw first blood early and appeared to be in control at home before a single inning shifted their fortunes. Once the visitors gained the lead, they continued to layer on the points to put the game away late. Hornets Head Coach Charlene Ross was pleased with the determination from all the players on her squad after they snapped their four-game losing streak on Wednesday.

“I think they really showed grit, and they also came together as a team. It was not one person being amazing and pulling everybody. They all came together. A hit here, a hit here, a run, a stolen base, good play out there, good backup. The backup kids, they do not get a lot of awards or applause, but that is important, too. So, they came back, and I am very proud when they come back like that because that is a ‘not give up’ attitude that I really like to see.”

The home team opened the evening strong with Sophomore P Jaida Childs on the bump as she dealt a quick 1-2-3 inning to bring out the Bears’ offense. After a Senior Kaylee Reese single, Senior Megan Watier’s triple ran Reese home and Central was on the board in no time flat. When Weeki Wachee came back out on offense, their batters were quickly retired again. The bottom of the second period brought another Bears’ score, this time by way of a Freshman Ayva Frechette home run. The top of the third saw the Green and Black’s offense make another swift exist as three out of four batters were struck, thrown, or caught out. A pattern appeared to be forming, especially as the home team managed to put runners on first and second in the bottom of the third inning.

Then everything flipped. The next two Bears’ batters were caught out and Coach Ross’s offense went back up to the plate facing a two-point deficit. The visitors would score five runs with the next six batters in the top of the fourth frame to suddenly take the lead from Central for good. A Junior Reegan Miller double ran Weeki’s first score (Senior Taylor Laviano) across the plate and it was off to the races. The next hit was a sophomore-to-sophomore connection as Hailey Tarner ran Alvalyn Crisp home, but that would certainly not be Tarner’s last. Miller would then steal home during some confusion after a wild pitch on Sophomore Abi Pyle’s at-bat. Pyle immediately ran Tarner across the plate seconds later. Pyle would record the final score of the inning as she stole second, and then home, on Senior Mary Taylor’s next at-bat.

While this margin would already prove to be enough for Weeki to win the game, insurance runs were added in the fifth and seventh periods to put the game out of reach. Pyle would run the sophomore first baseman home for a second time in as many innings before Tarner locked the door and threw away the key in the final frame. With a runner on first, Tarner capped off her impressive performance by blasting a homerun beside the scoreboard as if to signal, “put two more on the board.”

“[Hailey] had a great game,” said Coach Ross. “Boy, she is seeing that ball so well. When she hit that ball over, I was so happy for her. The whole team was happy for her. She is a great hitter. I mean, we know she is a great hitter. So, it was excellent to see that, and I believe that was her first homerun. So, that was excellent. Yeah, very happy for her.”

While the Hornets’ coach was pleased with the outcome and resolve of her team, there were a couple of areas she would like to work on moving forward: errors and base running. “We made some errors early on that if we did not pull together and come back would have been hard to overcome,” she said. Coach Ross’s squad is always wanting to work on hitting as well and will look to build momentum following their dominating midseason victory. The cross-county foes will rematch on April 2 at the Hornets’ Nest.