Deerfield Beach Upsets Coral Glades In District 10-6A Quarterfinal
Deerfield Beach’s Joey Ursetti starred on the mound Monday night in the Bucks 4-2 upset of Coral Glades
Of all the ways that a high school career can end, not many players dream up a scenario that is as memorable as how Deerfield Beach upset Coral Glades on Monday night in a District 10-6A quarterfinal match up.
The Jaguars bats were shut down most of the night, but it was one of their biggest hits of the evening that produced the game-winning play for Deerfield. In a game where the underdog Bucks were in control most of the game, it was an apparent two-run home run by Coral Glades’ Oliver Christensen that produced the fireworks.
Deerfield built a 4-1 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh inning. The Bucks played an aggressive, take no prisoner type of offense all evening, and that was highlighted in the sixth inning when junior Luis Matias stole home. The Bucks would add another run in the inning, setting up one of the wildest finishes to a game in the history of Broward County high school baseball.
In the home half of the seventh, sophomore Jacob Melton fouled off pitch after pitch before eventually singling to right-center. The base hit ended the night for Deerfield starter Joey Ursetti. The junior was in control for most of the night, but his pitch count was too elevated for Deerfield Head Coach Scott Bragg to allow Ursetti to finish off his masterpiece.
Nick Miller was summoned from the bullpen to face Brandon Weber. The Jaguars left fielder hit an apparent base hit, built the umpires ruled that Melton had been hit with the ball. Normally, this would be the most controversial call in a district tournament game, but on Monday, it was just foreshadowing of what was to come.
Miller struck out Austin Holzknecht for the second out, and when Derek Greider hit a ground ball to second, it appeared that Deerfield would pull the upset. An error on the play, however, allowed the inning to continue, as Weber scored.
What happened next will be something that players, coaches and fans on both teams will remember for a long time. Christensen belted what appeared to be a two-run, game-tying home run to center-field. Coral Glades players jumped for joy as they surrounded home plate to greet the hero, Christensen.
As the hysteria was taking place at home plate, Deerfield appealed to the home plate umpire Alan Freedman, claiming Greider did not touch home plate. Freedman granted the appeal, and the home run was nullified, leaving Deerfield with a 4-2 win.
“It’s a tough pill to swallow,” said Coral Glades Head Coach Jorge Miranda. “In all my thirty years as a head coach and a player, I’ve never seen a game be decided by an umpire’s call. But, that is something that is out of my control. I’m very proud of my guys….my hat is off to Deerfield, they shut us down for six innings, and once we got it on track, it was a little too late.”
Deerfield will move on now to face Douglas, the number two seed in the district, on Tuesday afternoon. No matter what happens in that game, Bragg will be pleased with the way his team put things together against the Jaguars.
“We’ve been hanging around all year long, and finally, we got a warrior on the mound, and we got a win for him,” said Bragg. “Stealing home was a giant play. We have a team motto of aggressiveness, and tonight we were able to take the game to them.”
5 Responses to “Deerfield Beach Upsets Coral Glades In District 10-6A Quarterfinal”
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rule need to be follow if you do not touch the base you are out
This is such a tough one for me… I def agree, how much power these umps have – one person can be responsible for effecting so many teenagers negatively by their opinion I say, only because I think 1/2 the time they just make calls when they aren’t positive? Not all of them and not always. Look how it effected this game? Look how one umpire, that assumed he heard the wrong thing from 70 ft away in a very loud environment, ruined 20+ players’ season when they started 16-0 before his call. Now with this call, it’s tough… Yes, a rule is a rule, however it was a HR – which means it’s a dead ball. He still hit the ball over the fence – so what one guy misses home plate – why even call that? He earned the HR and there was no question about it, so…. IDK? Before this year, I was getting sick of how poor some of the umpiring has been over the years, ruining big games by their judgement….
an out is an out. ’nuff said.
“Agrees”
I can’t believe that an umpire would take the game away from the players like that, where is the accountability for these umpires?? They are quick to throw coaches or players out and the state comes down hard on them, yet umpires get away with this kid of stuff all the time. Something needs to change, umpires should have to be accountable for this sort of thing.