Miller Pitches and Powers Eagles Past Sharks

SPRING HILL – Even as Alivia Miller remained in control on the mound Friday night, she still had to protect a precarious one-run lead.

But with one line drive over the fence in center field, the Springstead sophomore provided her own breathing room.

She gave up one run and struck out 10 over seven innings, and her two-run home run proved to be the difference as the host Eagles defeated Nature Coast 3-1.

“It’s really big for us and I just want to start by saying thank you to my defense,” Miller said. “We can just pick each other up no matter what happens. And I’m just thankful for this team and we’re going to celebrate, and we’re going to take this win and we’re excited.”

In a matchup of two solid county rivals and on a night when both sides were considerably unhappy with what they felt was a particularly generous strike zone, it was unsurprisingly a pitchers’ duel between Miller and Nature Coast’s Izzy Miller (no relation).

Nature Coast (8-5) had a prime opportunity to tie it up in the top of the fourth. With runners on second and third and no outs, a passed ball resulted in the Sharks running into an out at home plate. The catcher Rivera was able to retrieve the ball and throw back to Alivia Miller for the tag out.

“I thought we played about as good as we could. A couple opportunities. I took the chance on the passed ball at home plate and caught a bad rebound,” said Nature Coast head coach Jug Olmstead, who sent the runner while coaching at third base. “Would have done it again. Against pitchers of this caliber, you’ve got to take advantage of the opportunities you get.

“But I thought we had real good at-bats today against a top-notch quality pitcher. I don’t believe in moral victories, but it was a good game, it was a good game. The home run was a hell of a pitch. She hit a good pitch. Didn’t come out in the win column but we’re OK. We’ve been playing a lot better of late.”

That homer by Alivia Miller came in the bottom of the fourth, following a single to start the frame by Lyons, and made it 3-0.

“I was in the box and I was just thinking, ‘Give it to me, give it to me.’ I was ready,” Alivia Miller said. “I was like I’m playing here for my team. I wanted to thank God. I prayed before I was in the box, and I just thanked him that I was here and I have this opportunity.

“… Definitely for sure took the pressure off. Even if we were tied, I knew my defense had my back. I knew that my offense had my back, even if we were tied. But having that extra cushion meant the world. I knew that these girls could get it done no matter what.”

Alivia Miller got into and out of trouble in the sixth. Athena Brown and Mirada Wiemer singled with one out, with the former scoring on Caitlin Corrigan’s groundout to second. The next batter was retired to strand Wiemer on third.

After a leadoff walk, Alivia Miller struck out the side in the seventh to end the game. She gave up just four hits and issued that one walk.

“She threw pretty good tonight. Early on, she didn’t have her best stuff, but when she got into a groove in the later innings, she really came through,” Springstead head coach Craig Swartout said. “The strike zone was challenging tonight. In hindsight, she probably pitched a lot better than the stats will show.”

This win gave the Eagles a season series sweep of the Sharks, though this one was much closer than a 16-5 victory in the season opener on Feb. 18.

“Any time you beat a county team it’s a rival, a big rival, it’s a good thing. We played good enough to win,” Swartout said. “Baserunning-wise, we’re really kind of losing our focus a little bit. So we really need to focus back in on that.

“All in all, defensively we played OK. We can play better. But a victory is a victory, we move on. Any time you play a rival like Nature Coast you can throw all that stuff out the door. It’s a good win.”