Ashley Bullion described her Friday as being filled with jitters and heart palpitations, all in anticipation of the district championship game. Although the first inning didn’t do much to help the Plant City High coach there, she was fine by sunset.
The Lady Raiders came roaring back in the second inning and captured the district title, 7-1, over East Bay.
“Some of our parents had told us that it’s been about 10 years since (Plant City) won a district championship,” Bullion said after the win. “I didn’t want to tell any of (the players), get them too nervous about the game.”
East Bay took a 1-0 lead to start the game as Plant City ace Noelle Dietrich struggled with her control on the mound, accidentally hitting a few batters in the process. But once Dietrich calmed down and got into a rhythm, the senior was nearly unhittable and kept Lady Indian batters in check.
Much credit also has to go to the Plant City offense, which scored four runs in the second inning and added three more in the third by taking a more aggressive approach at the plate. And when some of Dietrich’s pitches did meet East Bay bats, the defense almost always came through.
Plant City’s fourth head coach in as many years has achieved what the others could not and, after leaping into a group of celebrating players with some serious hang time, was quick to look back on the season as a whole and smile.
“We’re peaking at the right time,” she said. “Our bats are coming around. All of the hours that we put in at the field, all of the hours that we put in at the batting cage – it’s all coming around. This is what we’ve played for, right here. All the months that we’ve put in – this is it.”