Pasco rallies behind Brandt

DADE CITY - That thud high off the left-field fence at Pasco’s stadium was Courtney Brandt’s answer to small ball.

In a game dominated by squeeze bunts and stolen bases, Brandt, Pasco’s ace pitcher, swatted a sixth-inning pitch off the upper portion of the outfield fence, scoring three runs to give the Pirates a come-from-behind 7-4 victory against Zephyrhills.

For most of the night, Zephyrhills (8-3) clung to a slight advantage, but Pasco (6-2) always had an answer, never allowing the Bulldogs to get too far ahead. Zephyrhills went ahead, 1-0, in the first and tacked on two more runs in the third on a Briana Blanyar single.

Elizabeth Burchfield’s bunt up the third-base line scored Renae Reynolds and Anissa Johns to cut Pasco’s deficit to 3-2.

Pasco tied the game at 4 in the sixth inning on a Sarah Burchfield single.

Four batters later, Brandt launched the first pitch deep into left field.

“It was really key because if we wouldn’t have kept fighting back each inning, we definitely wouldn’t have gotten the runs back,” Brandt said. “It would have been bad and we would have had to come back in the seventh inning.”

Brandt, struck out 11 batters, seven swinging.

“When you get four runs off somebody like that, that’s got to stand up,” Zephyrhills coach Craig Milburn said. “Those were runs we kind of manufactured ... but that’s what you’ve got to do against somebody like (Brandt).”

Eddie Daniels