Monarch Beats Plantation In Nine Innings For Third Place In Tourney

The Monarch Knights defeated the Plantation Colonels Wednesday afternoon for a third place finish in their own Spring Break Tournament. 

“This was definitely a big confidence booster, Plantation is a good, quality team in Broward County and our kids were up for it,” said Monarch Head Coach Joe Franco about the win.

The Knights trailed early as the Colonels jumped on the board in the bottom of the first with one run on two hits. Lead-off batter for Plantation Brian Gentry singled and stole second before advancing to third on a ground ball to third base. He scored on an RBI double to right center by catcher Ian Pubillones. 

In the second, the Knights were not able to answer after a Brian George one-out single. 

For the Colonels in the second, Trevor Takacs was left stranded after a two-out single and a stolen base.

Monarch went down in order in the third and Plantation jumped to a 3-0 lead with two runs in their half of the inning.  A lead-off double by Adam Shorr and a passed ball put Shorr at third.  Pubillones then walked and stole second to put runners at second and third for Anthony Birchall. 

Birchall hit a grounder between the drawn in infield for a two-RBI single but was thrown out at second by the right fielder while trying to advance. 

Monarch looked as if they would get on the board in the fourth by loading the bases with no outs. George grounded to third baseman Felipe Garcia, who tagged the runner at third for the first out of the inning. Garcia then stepped on third for the second out, and threw across the diamond to get George, completing a triple play.

Plantation went down in order in the fourth and Monarch got on the board in the top of the fifth to make it 3-1.  The starting pitcher for the Knights, Andrew Pierson, led the inning off with a hit, advanced to second on a wild pitch and stole third.  Nick Sposa hit a single to score Pierson and the Colonels turned a double play to end the Monarch rally.

Again, the Colonels went down in order in the fifth and the Knights came back from a 3-0 deficit to take a 4-3 lead in the top of the sixth.  Third baseman Michael Stokes led off with a triple. Shortstop Kenny Finley followed with a RBI single, Josh Mila then sacrificed Finley to second, and George had a RBI single before Jarrod Walker knocked in the fourth run with a single of his own. 

Plantation would send the game into extras by scoring a run in the bottom of the seventh.  Pinch hitter Levar Francis walked and Gus Cinquino re-entered the game to run.  Cinquino would later score on a sacrifice fly by Shorr. 

A quiet eighth by both teams sent the game into the ninth where Monarch took a two-run a 6-4 lead.  Bobby Jakubek and Fernando Melo hit back to back singles and scored on a sacrifice fly by Stokes and a RBI double by Finley.

“Stokes is a power guy and a guy we rely on to drive in runs” Franco said of his three-hole hitter.

Freshman Andrew Rohloff retired the Colonels in the ninth but not before they put the tying run on second base to add some excitement.  Rohloff worked two innings for the win.  Pierson, started and went seven innings striking out seven.

“We had Pierson on the mound for us and we thought he would keep us in the game which he did with a bulldog performance, and we brought a freshman in to close it out,” said Franco about his pitchers for the day.

For Plantation, Takacs started and went six innings striking out four.  Birchall came in and worked two and two thirds innings of relief for the loss.

Leave a comment using your facebook account!