Lacy needs just 70 pitches to deal Tampa Prep to win

By Jarrett Guthrie
Editor

SEFFNER – A coach couldn’t ask for much more than a pitcher who goes out, throw strikes and lets his defense do the work behind him. And if that is the goal, Tampa Prep senior Alex Lacy put on an absolute masterclass at Seffner Christian on Friday.

The 6-foot-2, 190-pound righty pounded the strike zone all afternoon, tossing a complete-game – needing just 70 pitches to wrap things up – as the Terrapins won 7-2.

“Lacy threw an unbelievable game,” Tampa Prep coach AJ Hendrix said. “You don’t see too many high school pitchers throw a 70-pitch complete-game. He just filled the zone. I think he only had one walk, when you work like that you keep your defense in the game and we made some good plays today.”

Tampa Prep (9-4) took a beat to get to Crusaders starting pitcher Shay Dean, who struck out six while allowing just a pair of walks through the first three innings. But in the fourth, things finally started to swing the Terrapins way. Senior Ty Jones singled to center to lead things off, scoring the game’s first run on a Jaden Holder groundball single to left.

Then with two outs, LaPlace Sallis singled to move Holder to third, Roger Haughey dropped down a beautiful RBI bunt for a single, and Gage Mills put across what would prove the deciding run on a fly ball single to left.

“I knew (Seffner Christian) could hit, I played with a lot of them over the summer, and I know they can put the ball in play – and just how dangerous they can be,” Mills said. “So, I knew every run counts and with runners in scoring position and two outs, I knew I had to get that one down and that run in.”

Seffner Christian (8-3-1) answered right back in the home-fourth when Jake Foster drove a high fastball over the wall in left for his first varsity home run, upping his team-leading RBI total to 14.

Corbin Newman singled, moved to second on a sac bunt, third on a Collin McNeal single and scored the Crusaders second run on an Addy Scott RBI sac fly.

But that was all Lacy would allow, inducing a pop fly for the third out of the inning.

“I say, ‘if I pitch and they hit, we both did a good job,’” Lacy said. “They hit the home run, that means that’s good on them, not bad on me. It means I threw a strike and they hit it.

“I just had to take a breath, collect myself and forget it.”

Lacy, who improves to 3-1 with the win, cruised from there as two Crusaders reached on errors after the fourth and another Collin McNeal single would be the only other damage to his stat line, as he consistently got weak contact or fly balls.

“That’s been Lacy all year,” Mills said. “He’s been very dependable. We know he is a pitch-to-contact pitcher and he knows we have a good defense behind him. We trust him and he trusts us.”

With a one-run lead, sophomore Noah Sheffield who turned in excellent defense at short all afternoon, was hit by a pitch, stole second and third, and slid into home on a wild pitch in the sixth.

The hustle all around was something Lacy said he appreciated and drew strength from in the deeper innings.

“I can’t do it without them,” Lacy said. “Without those three, four runs, I don’t know if I stay out there.”

Tampa Prep wasn’t finished padding its lead, again with two outs the Terrapins produced in the seventh with Will Sotiropoulos and Grant Varner drawing walks, only to score as Jones smashed his first home run of the season to left field to put his team ahead by five.

“Ty is a kid who I call a ‘cage rat,’” Hendrix said of the Christian Brothers University committed Jones. “No matter what time we finish practice, you will see that kid in the cages afterwards, getting those extra swings in. He just continues to work, shortens his swing and puts the ball in play consistently.”

The constant application of pressure was something Hendrix said impressed him, and also was something he was happy to have against a team like Seffner Christian, which has battled the Terrapins in tight games recently – including last year’s 1-0, 11-inning win for the Crusaders in downtown Tampa.

“It was important to get up on them because (Seffner Christian coach) Sal (Giardina) does such a great job with this team,” Hendrix said. “They never quit, even in the seventh inning when we get up five runs, there wasn’t a second where those kids over there weren’t into this game.”

The win marked four-straight wins for the Terps this year, and five of its last six. Mills said that continuing to work for seven, complete innings has been the key for the current run.

“We’ve had games this year, games in the fall and games last year that we kind of slowed down and rolled over,” Mills said. “We’ve lost control of games we were leading in, so we know every run counts and today, we kept going after it. We’ve done a really good job of that (the last two weeks).”

Lacy on the other hand, was still riding the emotional high of his performance and didn’t realize the run of current success.

“We have won five out of the last six?” a smiling Lacy replied to a question about the stretch-run. “Wow, I didn’t realize that. That feels pretty great.”

Tampa Prep 7
Seffner Chr 2

TP 000|301|3 – |7|6|2
SC 000|200|0 – |2|5|0
W – Lacy (3-1); L – Dean (1-1)
HR – Jones (TP); Foster (SC). Records – TP (9-4); SC (8-3-1).