American Heritage Delray Cruises Past Calvary Christian Academy 7-2

The American Heritage Stallions jumped out to a quick 2-0 first inning lead over Calvary Christian and never looked back in disposing of the Eagles 7-2, beating Calvary for the second consecutive year in their Region 2A quarterfinal match-up last night in Delray Beach.

Heritage starter Billy Strode escaped a two-out, two-on top of the first, inducing a harmless ground out to second for the final out, stranding Taylor Gushue who had singled and Dalton Dinatale who had reached on a walk.

Fleet-footed Heritage lead-off batter Shaquille Rolle legged out a slow roller to the left side igniting the Stallions half of the first inning. One out later, Jon Spada’s RBI double to the gap in left-center field delivered Rolle, giving AHD a 1-0 lead, a lead they would never surrender.

A couple of free passes followed, loading the bases. Josh Silverman’s long foul sacrifice fly into the right field corner upped the score to 2-0 after one inning.

CCA came right back when Ryan Reilly hit a home run on a 3-1 offering by Strode, clearing the fence in left field. When asked to comment on the blast after the game, Reilly had this to say, “I took a strike on a 3-0 count. That was the ball I actually wanted. It was a fastball right down the middle. I was like, ‘I wish I had that.’ But then I was just hoping for a good next pitch and it was actually high in the zone. I put a good swing on it and it carried pretty well.”

Even though Strode struggled somewhat, never recording a 1-2-3 inning, he did manage to record eight strikeouts while walking only two batters in a very workman-like five inning performance.

“I don’t think he had his best stuff tonight,” said Head Coach Carm Mazza about his starter, quickly adding, “but he battled and that’s what an ace does in a big game.”

Meanwhile CCA’s Chris Walkerow recorded a pair of strikeouts in both the second and third innings but he ran into a problem in the fourth frame.

Josh Silverman took one for the team leading off the fourth. He came home when Strode stroked his second single, an RBI grounder just beyond the reach of Calvary’s sure-handed shortstop Dalton Dinatale. After Rolle singled, both runners were driven in by Jacob O’Keefe’s two-run double, increasing the Stallions’ lead to 5-1 after four innings.

“Jacob’s our heart and soul. He’s been feeling under the weather. He actually even played with a touch of food poisoning but he came out and battled tonight,” said Mazza, “He’s got a lot of heart.”

After a scoreless fifth inning, the Eagles managed to score a sixth inning run off Stallions reliever Dylan Silva, without a base hit. Three walks and a hit batter closed the gap to 5-2 entering the bottom of the sixth inning.

Seth Natal who came in to spell Walkerow, surrendered a pair of runs to close out the scoring on the night. The key hit was Rolle’s third hit of the game, a bullet down the left field line, good for two bases.

Coach Mazza was more than pleased with his lead-off hitter.

“Shaq’s been great. he started out in our nine hole early in the season and he proved that he wanted that lead-off spot. He gets on base. he can swing it. He has a lot of tools. He’s been playing great for us.”

Calvary Head Coach Greg Mucerino, obviously disappointed in the outcome of the game, managed to reflect on his team’s successful year.

“We had a great season. We just came up a little short,” quickly adding, “They’re a very good team. They play well at home, and they got us again tonight.”

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