Perez Leads West Broward To District Win Over Everglades

West Broward third baseman Luigi Perez came into the game against Everglades Friday afternoon having worked on his hitting a day earlier with Head Coach Mike Moss. The practice session paid off in a big way as Perez was the offensive star, leading the Bobcats to a 5-2 district win.

Perez went 3-for-3 and was involved in helping West Broward score three of their five runs. In the third inning, Perez started the scoring with an opposite field, solo home run. In the fifth he belted a lead-off double, moved to third on a long fly ball out down the right field line, and scored on Mike Hoeft’s ground out to short. Then, in the seventh, Perez had a key hit with the score tied at two.

For Moss, it was the home run that was most impressive, but not for the reasons most would think.

“We’ve been working on not hooking the ball,” said Moss. “We hadn’t touched the ball yet today, and then he comes up in the third and drills a ball to right-center field off the light pole. I loved that, because he stayed inside the ball and he did what we practiced yesterday. Anytime that happens, you know the coach loves it.”

Moss could have been equally impressed with starting pitcher Marc Hadley, who went five innings and gave up two runs. Hadley struck out five, walked one, and retired the side in order in three of the five innings.

Nick Finch started the sixth inning, relieving Hadley, and Finch subsequently hit Elijah Walker to lead-off the inning. Lee Ratliff then laid down a bunt to move Walker to second, and Finch threw wildly to first, leaving runners on first and third. Austin Gray then relieved Finch, and was able to work out of the jam, but not before Everglades tied the score at two.

West Broward took the lead for good in the seventh when Sam Green reached on a throwing error by the third baseman to lead-off the inning. Perez singled to center, moving Green to second. After a passed ball moved both runners up, Green scored on a wild pitch. Perez scored next on a double by Mike Mordente, his second double of the day. Mordente scored the third Bobcats run of the inning on a sacrifice fly by Mark McGinnity.

From there, Gray closed the door on the Gators in the seventh by striking out the side, and allowing just one base hit.

“Austin’s a solid guy,” said Moss, speaking of his winning pitcher. “He came in and shut it down. He’s got three pitches and he’s one of our better guys, and at this point, we didn’t want to lose this district game. It was a tight game, and we brought Austin in to wrap it up.”

West Broward improved their record to 2-1 overall and 2-0 in the district. Everglades drops to 0-2 in district play.

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