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Lancers settle for No. 2 in state

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By ADAM ADKINS

aadkins@tampatrib.com

Published: May 22, 2009

PORT ST. LUCIE - The chances were there for Cambridge Christian to bring home its first state baseball title. In the end, however, the Lancers could think of just one explanation for why they were toting another state runner-up trophy Thursday.

"It just wasn't meant to be," catcher Andrew Widell said.

In a wild game that provided enough drama to make your head spin, the Lancers lost 10-6 in 10 innings to Deltona Trinity Christian in the Class 1A championship game at Tradition Field.

"I've been in baseball a long time," Trinity Christian coach Mike Maples said, "and I've never seen or played in a game like this."

Drama began to mount in the sixth when the Lancers (20-8), who were down to their final six outs and trailing 6-1, mounted a fierce rally to tie the game. Then, the game became a story of missed opportunities - for both teams.

Trinity Christian (21-12) was on the wrong end of more than a few. The Eagles put the go-ahead run on third with no outs in the seventh and one out in the eighth and ninth innings, but each time they came away empty.

"Somebody said we had 10 chances to win and 10 chances to lose," Maples said, "and they did the same thing."

Cambridge's best opportunity to win came in the eighth, when the Lancers loaded the bases with no outs. However, Derek Self's shallow fly ball to right resulted in a double play when the runner on first took off on contact.

Still, hope was not lost in the inning.

Widell walked to load the bases again, which brought up Trent Tagliarini, who to that point had reached base in every plate appearance in four state tournament games. Keeping with the theme of the game, however, that streak ended as Tagliarini grounded out to first to end the inning.

"He's not perfect," Lancers coach Rick Shears said. "There's going to be times when Trent comes up and he doesn't come through, and that was just one of those times."

The Eagles broke through for four runs in the 10th, combining four hits with two Lancers errors.

"There's a lot of people that would like to be in our spot at No. 2 in the state," Shears said.

"I'm proud of these guys."

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