American Heritage Avenges Earlier Losses On Their Way To District 14-3A Title

North Broward Prep and American Heritage entered last nights District 14-3A championship game with identical 18-8 records, with one exception, NBP had beaten Heritage in both of their previous meetings this season.

The scores were 7-4 (Feb. 28th) and 1-0 (Apr. 5th). Since both games were well-played and close, it was logical to expect more of the same in the title game. Especially considering that two of Broward’s best arms were on the mound.

The Patriots threw their ace Jim Nesselt and the Eagles opened with hard throwing Sarkis Ohanian.

NBP opened the scoring in the first when their big run-producer, clean-up hitter Mike Vigliarolo came through with an RBI single to right, scoring Kevin Fagan who had started the inning with a double off the left-center field fence. But with runners on first and third and only one down, Nesselt retired the always dangerous Christian Correa and Ohanian to close out the inning down only 1-0.

In the meantime, Ohanian was doing it with his arm, cruising along, retiring seven of the first eight batters he faced. Four went down on strikes with the only batter reaching base, via a walk.

A one out, third inning walk to freshman Dallas Perez, batting in the nine hole, started a Heritage rally. With two down, Brandon Sedell was give the green light on a 3-0 pitch. He showed why his coach had confidence in him by stroking a two-run homer over the right-center field fence, giving Heritage a 2-1 lead, a lead they would never relinquished.

“I was looking for a fastball and I got one down the middle and I unloaded on it,” said Sedell about the 3-0 fastball.

After fouling off a couple of full-count pitches, Brandon Lopez stroked a single to left field, keeping the inning alive. Derrick Fritz followed with a full-count walk. When Esteban Puerta delivered both runners with a two-run double off the fence in left-center field, Ohanian’s night on the mound was over. Casey Kopec came in and closed the door, but the damage had been done, and Heritage led 4-1.

Following Vigliarolo’s first inning hit, Nesselt settled into a groove, retiring eight consecutive batters through three innings.

David Villar opened the Heritage fourth drawing a nine pitch walk. Two outs later, it appeared as though Kopec might get out of the inning unscored upon. Two more free passes on eight straight balls loaded the bases for Lopez who ripped an opposite field double down the right field line driving in two more runs. Pinch runner Kevin Williams scored the third run of the inning and the Patriots had opened the game up and led 7-1 after three and a half innings.

Vigliarolo continued his torrid hitting, opening the bottom of the fourth with a double. After advancing to third on a balk, he scored on Christian Correa’s RBI grounder to first, leaving his team down five runs, 7-2.

Following a scoreless fifth inning, the Patriots bats exploded for five straight hits with one down in the sixth. Singles by Lopez and Derrick Fritz put runners on first and second. Puerta singled, scoring Lopez, and Nesselt drove in two more runs with a double to right field.

RBI singles by Villar, an eighth-grader, and Perez, upped the score to 12-2 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning.

Nesselt came out to the mound envisioning an early end to the contest if he could retire the Eagles without allowing a run. He started out the frame with his ninth strikeout. After issuing only his second walk of the contest, he induced a picture-perfect 4-6-3 double-play to give his team a 12-2 mercy rule triumph and a district championship.

“I thought Jimmy’s performance was outstanding,” said Patriots Head Coach Todd Fitz-Gerald. “We let him call his own game tonight. He and [catcher] Brandon Sedell did a fantastic job. A great effort.”

Having lost both decisions to North Broward earlier in the season, winning pitcher Nesselt, when asked to describe his feelings after such a stunning performance in such a big game had this to say, “It felt great. We finally got the monkey off our backs. Winning by the ten-run [mercy] rule was definitely sweet.”

Eagles Head Coach Brian Campbell knew that this game would be tough. Having to beat a district rival three times in one season is never an easy chore, and doing so to a team that has won a state championship in recent seasons makes it much more difficult.

“It’s tough to beat any team three times,” said Campbell, “let alone these guys.”

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