Concepcion Ledezma
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Aucilla Christian Academy's (ACA) Lauren Davis was literally in tears due to the aches and bruises linked with the wear-and-tear of playing catcher. That's especially magnified with the burden of a seventh-grader playing the toughest position in the sport on a varsity team.
The rest of the team is dealing with a different type of hurt as well, the growing pains associated with being a young, rebuilding squad. ACA took another one to the chin in a 15-0 defeat at the hands of host Lafayette High School (LHS) in Mayo on Friday, March 26.
"All I can do is tell them to shake it off and learn from it for the next game," coach Becky Brandies said.
Although Brandies and her Warriors are only four years removed from reaching the FHSAA state finals in Class 1A competition, Aucilla is experiencing the tough stage of rebuilding.
Of course, when rebuilding occurs, successes come in small spurts.
Ninth-grader Kaitee Roberts has proven to be a bright spot for the Warriors from her center-field position and batting from the number two spot in the ACA order.
However, Coach Brandies believes she has to dip into Roberts' versatility more often than she wants to. She had to call on her again during their match-up against a strong Lafayette team, which improved to 9-4 while enjoying its Senior Night at the expense of ACA.
With Aucilla trailing 5-0 and with the bases loaded without recording an out in the first inning, Brandies took Roberts out of her outfield position and asked the left hander to limit the damage.
While she didn't completely avoid disaster, Roberts did a commendable job. The 5'2" lefty proceeded to strike out the first batter she faced. The next batter got on via an error, followed by a walk, then another strikeout. Another error produced another run before a strikeout finally allowed ACA its first turn at bat.
"I hate pulling her out of the field," the coach said. "But she does a good job of getting us out of tough spots (as a pitcher)."
In three innings of work, Roberts recorded a whopping six strikeouts against three walks.
The second inning against the Hornets was Roberts' highlight. She shook off Lafayette's threat, helped out by fielding errors, with two runners on and one out. With the seventh-grader Davis as her battery mate behind the plate, Roberts proceeded to strike out the next two batters to quench LHS's threat.
Roberts' promising feat doesn't go unnoticed by the opposition.
"She did a good job and definitely gave us some problems," Lafayette coach Derek Garland said. "She throws different speeds in every pitch. She hits different spots in the strike zone; she's in and out with her pitches. She doesn't pitch to the same spot."
Sophomore first baseman Lina Kimmell was the only ACA player to reach base against Lafayette when she smacked a double over the right fielder's head in the third inning. The growing pain again surfaced when she was tagged out at the plate, trying to score from third on a grounder on a third-to-first-to-catcher double play.
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