Island Coast, Seacrest, Canterbury, Bonita Springs, ECS are Wednesday's regional winners
A roundup of regional baseball and softball games played on Wednesday, May 11:
Baseball
Class 2A-Region 3
Seacrest 3, SFCA 2, 9 innings
Johannes Lopez didn't get it done on the mound. But he got it done in extra innings to win it for the Stingrays (21-5).
The senior cranked his first homer of the season to right-center field with the wind blowing that way to lead off the bottom of the ninth, and top-seeded Seacrest (21-5) pulled out the Class 2A regional quarterfinal victory over a team it had beaten 10-1 a week ago.
"I was in right field and I was feeling the wind out there, and things could go out," said Lopez, who was looking for a slider inside. "Obviously I'm a base hit guy so I didn't think I was going to hit it out, but when he threw that pitch I just had to go for it."
"That's why it's so important to play this game all the way to the last strike," Seacrest first-year coach Ridge Dulitz said. "Things aren't going your way early. You've just got to make sure you chip away and dig deep and fight to the end. That's exactly what these guys did. Credit to Johannes there, just picking up his team after not having it on the mound early on, so that's big time."
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The Stingrays will play sometime Saturday afternoon at home against Seffner Christian, a 7-0 winner over Northside Christian, in the regional semifinals.
SFCA (13-11) outscored the Stingrays 17-16 in the second game of the season, but dropped the next two contests, 9-5 and 10-1.
"It was a heck of a game," SFCA coach Mike Klossner said. "We obviously come in as the underdog as the eighth seed, to take them to the wire and make them walk it off, it hurts, but I couldn't be more proud of these guys and the way they fought and battled today, and really all season."
Wednesday was completely different.
Seacrest jumped out 1-0 when the King's failed to turn a double play and Danny DiNorcia scored from third.
The King's came right back, stringing together four straight hits off Lopez in the second to take a 2-1 lead.
Reed Guess singled to left, Jett Voltz followed with another and — after a foul ball dropped between two Stingrays — Matthew Waldrop singled to score Guess to tie it and push Voltz to third. Tyler Miller followed with a bunt to Lopez, but with Voltz charging toward the plate Lopez got him to go back toward third, then couldn't get Miller in time at first, loading the bases. He coaxed a popup for the first out, then Trevor Gould singled to right to give the King's the lead.
That forced Dulitz to bring in ace Justin Jackson in relief.
Jackson was brilliant, striking out 15 and allowing only four hits through the next 7 2/3 innings. He came in and got his first two strikeouts with the bases loaded and one out in the second.
"That's what he's used to doing is coming out there, pounding the zone, going right after those hitters," Dulitz said. "He plugged it away and couldn't have asked anything more from your ace right there to come in and help us out when we needed him in a big spot there in the second inning. He was lights out the rest of the way."
The Stingrays couldn't muster much against Guess and relievers Eli Moore and William Sheffield, and still trailed going to the bottom of the seventh against Gould.
Then a break helped Seacrest set up the tying run. Danny Hidalgo swung and missed to strike out, but the ball got away and Hidalgo made it to first. With Hidalgo going, Lopez struck out, but Hidalgo was safe at second.
That brought up DiNorcia, whose grounder got through the left side of the infield. Hidalgo scored easily when the ball went under the SFCA left fielder's glove, and DiNorcia advanced to second.
"That kid is one of the hardest workers I've ever coached, first one in here, last one out, always getting extra reps in the cages," Dulitz said. "That pays off, just him being mentally, physically prepared for that moment is a testament to his work ethic."
Gould got Jackson to ground out and Jackson Toberman on a deep flyout to left to send the game to extra innings.
Jackson struck out two of the three he faced in the top of the eighth, and the Stingrays put together another rally, putting two on with one out, but Gould got out of the inning.
Jackson ended the top of the ninth with some self-preservation, catching Gould's hard-hit liner to end the top of the ninth.
Then Lopez quickly ended the bottom of it.
"Early in the game, I struggled a little bit on the mound and so I kind of had to wipe that like off the slate and come back," he said. "I knew another opportunity was going to come to me and make sure I help my team out."
— Greg Hardwig
Canterbury 8, Keswick Christian 3
Canterbury’s first loss of the season came from Keswick Christian early on.
The Cougars made sure to return the favor and give the Crusaders their final loss of 2022.
Canterbury defeated Keswick 8-3 to advance to the regional semifinals in Class 2A in a game where five different Canterbury hitters managed to drive in one run or more.
Keswick opened the game with an RBI double from Kameron Gelwick, who drove in a run to make it 1-0. From there, Canterbury responded, as AJ Finco drove in a run to nod the game at 1-1 in the second inning.
The Cougars’ big inning came in the sixth trailing 3-1 when the team scored seven times that inning. The first seven Canterbury batters reached base and ended up batting around the order.
Jack Garvey went five innings, allowing five hits, three earned runs, and two walks with four strikeouts. USF commit Austin Schrowe came in for the six-out save, striking out a pair.
The Cougars will advance to the regional semifinals, where they’ll meet Out-of-Door Academy in a rematch.
— The News-Press staff
Out-of-Door 6, St. John Neumann 3
St. John Neumann could not hold onto an early 2-0 lead, falling to last year’s Class 2A state champions on the road.
Out-of-Door responded in the bottom of the third, scoring four runs to stretch their lead against the Celtics.
Neumann couldn’t tie or retake the lead after the Thunder went ahead, and finished their season with a 17-10 record under Artie Clyde.
— Naples Daily News staff
Class 4A-Region 4
Island Coast 10, Bonita Springs 0 (5 innings)
A combination of power hitting, opportunism, and a four-hit complete game led Island Coast to a 10-0, 5-inning win over Bonita Springs in the Region 4A-4 quarterfinals on Wednesday night.
The Gators (20-7) will head to Fort Lauderdale to face Cardinal Gibbons on Saturday at 4 p.m. for the regional semifinals.
For the Gators, it was something of a look at their past self. The Bull Sharks (19-7) made it to regionals in their second varsity season. Island Coast similarly became a baseball power shortly after it opened in 2007. This is their seventh trip to the FHSAA regionals since 2010.
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"We're right there, too," Bonita Springs coach Billy Moore said. "We're following that journey, so hopefully this is something that we become accustomed to like they did."
But while it was a milestone for Bull Sharks, the day belonged to the Gators, behind pitcher Kevin Martinez's four-hitter with four strikeouts. Offensively, they avoided complacency and triggered the 10-run mercy rule in the fifth inning.
"We've been focused on that and making sure that we play the game of baseball," Island Coast coach Clint Montgomery said. "We try never to play our opponent and just make ourselves play the way we're supposed to. We did a pretty good job tonight, hit some balls fairly hard. That's what we are, a team with a little bit of power. We took advantage of that a couple of times."
The Bull Sharks had some sharply hit balls early in the game, but several went straight to Island Coast fielders. The Gators, however, benefitted from better hit placement and some Bonita Springs errors. One of those errors brought Boe Rodriguez home for the first run of the game.
Later in the bottom of the first, the Bonita Springs infield turned a double play, but with nobody out, Devin Hickman was still able to score from third. Then Jake Billings hit a line drive to right-center field, driving in two more runs and making it a 4-0 game.
After that, starting pitcher Tyler Lambert was lifted for Baker Tygart, who pitched the rest of the game for the Bull Sharks.
Hickman walked with the bases loaded in the second to make it 5-0.
In the fourth, Jake Mueller hit a double to center field. Emilio Gonzalez followed that with a 2-run homer to right. Dylan Masters followed with an RBI double to make the lead 8-0.
After all those fireworks, the game ended in something of a whimper. The ninth run was driven in by Jordi Guerrero getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Kaden Oxnam scored the walk-off run on a fielding error.
— Dave Montrose
Key West 7, Mariner 0
An early barrage by Key West in the first three innings put Mariner in a hole they couldn’t climb out of, falling 7-0 to the Conchs on the road.
Key West plated all seven of their runs in the first three innings, chasing Tritons starter Sam Duvall after 2 2/3 innings. He surrendered four hits and four walks, with all seven runs being earned. Matthew Morales threw 3 1/3 innings of relief, striking out five across the outing.
Samuel Guth had a pair of singles in the loss for the Tritons, while Anthony Pimentel and Isaac Lopez each logged hits.
— The News-Press staff
Class 3A-Region 2
Tampa Prep 6, Bishop Verot 0
Playing on the road proved to be a tough match for Bishop Verot.
The Vikings fell 6-0 to Tampa Prep after Aidan Knaak pitched three shutout innings before a five-run fourth inning gave the Terrapins a 5-0 lead.
Knaak (4-5, 2.06 ERA) was pulled midway through the fourth, as he surrendered five hits, four runs, no earned runs, with four walks and four strikeouts.
Florida State commit Noah Sheffield, son of longtime MLBer Gary Sheffield, went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Maddix Simpson went 2-for-4 for the Vikings (16-11) in the loss.
— The News-Press staff
SOFTBALL
Class 4A-Region 4
Bonita Springs 6, Pompano Beach 5
The script could not have been written any better for coach Darrell Howery and Bonita Springs.
Just three months ago, Howery took over the team and immediately knew he had a special group of girls.
Fast forward and the Bull Sharks' Cinderella story continued after advancing to the Class 4A-Region 4 semifinals in walk-off fashion, winning 5-4 over Pompano Beach thanks to a clutch hit from Marsha Foreman.
“This is my team, this is my family,” Foreman said. “There's nothing that I get more compassionate about than the group of girls that walk on this field. My coach told me to get a bunt down and I said 'Oh no! This is not going to end well.' I foul-balled the first bunt off and then the know next one, I just got a rip-off and did my job.”
As they have done all season, the Sharks battled back twice from deficits in the regional quarterfinal matchup. Golden Tornadoes pitcher Sammy Murphy dominated in the circle early on, keeping the Bull Sharks at bay with six strikeouts in the opening two innings and 13 overall.
Bull Sharks pitcher Alyssa Estrada, who led the team to their first district championship last week, battled against Murphy as the two went the first four innings without allowing a run.
“I was just trying to hold it down,” Estrada said. “Just to do it for the team, do it for everyone and for most importantly my family.”
Pompano Beach would get on the board first in the top of the fifth after Gabby Drew knocked in a one-run double to left field. Shortly after, Foreman would respond for Bonita Springs driving in an RBI followed by a two-run single from Nyiah VanHoose to give the Bull Sharks a 3-1 lead.
The Golden Tornadoes would go on to score three unanswered runs thanks to Taylor Grace and Murphy.
"They came out just like they have the last three games and they've done what they're supposed to do and they got pumped and that's that's what kept us in this game," said Howery.
With three outs left to save their season, Howery couldn’t have been in a better position as his team was at the top of the batting lineup.
“We're right where we wanted to be,” he said. “As soon as I finished the sixth inning, I looked at my lineup. I knew that we were going to be good going to the bottom of the seventh with our first hitter coming up.”
After getting runners on first and second, Foreman was next up and completed the job by smashing a pitch into left field to bring in the winning run.
“She's the backbone, she is our catcher on the team,” Howery said. “She's done that throughout the year, again, every game we've had a hero, and tonight she's done it twice.”
“Coach Darrell is definitely stepped in and done his job and he's helped guide us in the right direction,” Foreman said. “I couldn't be more proud and thankful for him.”
— Izubee Charles
Key West 15, LaBelle 2
A pair of solo home runs by Carli Spencer and Abby Hicks wasn’t enough against the Conchs, who plated 15 runs on 10 hits and eight walks.
Key West (17-3-1) jumped out to an 8-0 lead until LaBelle finally broke through in the fourth inning. From there, the Conchs plated three more to stretch the lead to 11-1.
Marina Goins went 3-for-5 with two doubles, a home run, and five RBI in the win. Aside from Spencer and Hicks, Calia White and Terryn Horton were the Cowgirls (13-12-1) who also logged hits.
— The News-Press staff
Class 3A-Region 2
Academy of the Holy Names 6, Bishop Verot 5
It was easy to tell what Holy Names sophomore Maisi Sigler wished for on her birthday when she crushed a go-ahead double in the top of the seventh. Sigler’s hit came with bases loaded, two outs, and her team down by one.
Sigler, part of last year’s Jaguars squad that won the 3A state title, said she reminded herself of her team before she stepped up in the seventh.
“I thought of our senior, and that this could be our last game,” Sigler said. “I thought of everything I’ve done, and I just let my hands go.”
In the first inning, the Vikings' Sophia Miller got the ball rolling with her simgle that brought in Aubrey Gatewood and Josee Fry. Gatewood finished with two hits and two runs.
Pitcher Victoria Ash kept it going in the second with a deep shot to left that brought in Madeline Knaak and extended Verot’s lead to three. Ash finished the night with six strikeouts and allowed nine hits on the mound.
The Vikings' barrage continued into the third inning when Gatewood scored again off a Sophia Miller sacrifice bunt. Knaak's single to center drove in Lillie Layne for a 5-0 edge.
The Jaguars began their comeback in the fourth when Sigler hit a deep ball to center that brought in two runs. Pitcher Keala Hollenkamp kept chipping away at the lead as her fly ball to left brought in two more Jaguars runs.
The Holy Names entered into the final frame down one. Head coach Jeff Krone told his team to have faith. “We’ve played a lot of one-run games, and they never gave up,” Krone said. “That’s the big thing.”
Two hits and a walk later, Sigler came up looking for her second big hit of the night, and she found it. Her go-ahead hit was her third hit of the night.
“You’re playing the defending state champions, you have to do the little things right,” Bishop Verot coach Chris Gatewood said. “Hopefully, moving forward, getting some experience will help them in the bigger games.”
— Nick Wilson
Class 2A-Region 3
ECS 15, Foundation Christian 0
There were no surprises Wednesday afternoon on the ECS campus, as the Sentinels were dominant in a three-inning game against Foundation Christian.
Zoe Yzaguirre struck out eight of the nine batters she faces and went 2-for-2 at the plate with a double and a home run. She drove in three runs, one of four ECS players to do so.
Aside from Yzaguirre, Kylie Shaw, Anayeli Guzman, and Jazelle Rivera also went 2-for-2 against the Panthers.
ECS will advance to host a regional semifinal game against Seffner Christian next week.
— The News-Press staff
Academy at the Lakes 13, Seacrest 0
A 13-run fifth inning proved to be the decider, as Academy of the Lakes advanced to take on St. Petersburg Canterbury in a regional semifinal.
Seacrest closes their season with a 12-6 record.
— Naples Daily News staff
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Regional results include Island Coast, Seacrest, Canterbury, Bonita Springs, ECS wins
