Florida cruises to title game

WARNER ROBINS -- The thunder struck just moments after the lightning finally abated.

Florida plated eight runs in the first inning and eased into the championship game of the Little League Southeastern Regional with a 11-0 win over Tennessee in four innings.

Florida (4-0) will play North Carolina for the title at 6 p.m. on Monday. Tennesse finished the tournament with a record of 2-2.

Jamesia Stoudemire had three hits including a pair of doubles. She drove in three runs. Catcher Mary Margaret Maggard drove in four runs with a pair of singles.

Florida sent 13 batters to the plate in its eight-run first inning. Stoudemire and leadoff batter Taite Powell each had two hits in the inning. Tennessee starting pitcher Christina Blevins hurt her cause by walking four straight in the inning. All of them scored.

Powell and Alona Harris each pitched two scoreless innings for Florida.

Tennessee's best chance to score came in the third inning. Lindsey Laughrun singled with two out and Hannah Crawford at second base. But Crawford was caught in between third and home after centerfielder Alyssa Rivera's throw hit Powell at the cut off. Powell tagged Crawford for the third out.

Stoudemire had a booming double that short-hopped the leftfield fence and drove in Florida's ninth run in the third inning. Maggard then singled home two more as Florida won its fourth game of the tournament by the run rule.

Scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m., first pitch didn't come until 9:48 p.m. because of frequent lightning strikes in the area.

This story was originally published July 31, 2011 at 11:15 PM with the headline "Florida cruises to title game."