Pompano Wins Playoff Tune-Up 9-2 Over Taravella

In his final tune-up before Monday’s District 14-3A Tournament opener, Pompano’s ace, junior right-hander Ryan Richman hurled five strong innings last night in stopping Class 6A Taravella 9-2.

After two scoreless innings, the Golden Tornadoes got on the board first with a pair of runs in the top of the third inning.

Nick Delgado opened the frame by legging out an infield single and was able to make it all the way to third on an errant throw up the right field line. RBI doubles by Charlie Pal and Kenny Sanchez accounted for both runs giving Pompano the early 2-0 lead.

After J.J. Rodriguez doubled down the left field line leading off the Pompano fourth, Trojans coach Jason Stein replaced freshman starter Chris Verardi with another freshman, Devin Meyer.

Verardi threw a very credible three plus innings before being removed, yielding three runs on six hits while striking out five and walking none.

Meyer was promptly greeted by a pair of hits which were followed by two fielder’s choices and the visiting Golden Tornadoes stretched their lead to 5-0 after three and a half innings.

With one down in the Trojan’s fourth, Nikko Rivera was hit by a Richman pitch. A stolen base and Andrew Forest’s second hit of the game put runners at the corners for Andrew Wallach. He delivered Rivera with a sacrifice fly to left as Sanchez made a beautiful catch to help short-circuit a big inning for the home team.

Richman was constantly working ahead of the hitters as he pounded the strike zone at a 70% rate through his five-inning stint.

Recently, Pompano’s head coach George Petik sat down with Richman and gave his ace some advice. Petik drew his opinion from Richman’s only tough outings this season, one against Pine Crest and the other against American Heritage.

“Go with your best stuff and attack the zone,” Petik told Richman in that meeting, “With your pitch selection and location, it isn’t necessary to nibble [at the corners].”

The Golden Tornadoes’ bats came alive in the seventh inning as they sent ten batters to the plate. Five hits, a couple of walks and a hit batter led to four more tallies and a 9-1 lead entering the bottom of the seventh.

Taravella’s Greg Feinberg coaxed a two-out walk from Pompano’s sophomore southpaw reliever Tyler Keller. Joseph Depalo followed with his second hit of the game, a laser-shot off the center field fence putting runners on second and third for Joey Nicolosi.

When Nicolosi sliced an RBI single down the right field line, Feinberg came home with the final run of the game. Keller closed out the contest when he caught Nicolosi leaning the wrong way and picked the Taravella base-runner off.

“I’m sure this win will help elevate their confidence,” said coach Petik, when asked about how a win over a 6A team could translate in the 3A playoffs. “Going deep in the count gave my boys an opportunity to sit on some fastballs and they came through with some timely hits tonight.”

Sanchez led the the Pompano offense with three hits, while a trio of Golden Tornadoes, Rodriguez, Delgado and Matt Fengler each went 2-for-4.

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