Douglas Eliminates Gibbons From Fall Classic, Moves To Semifinals

If Cardinal Gibbons had any intentions of sending its two-out-of-three quarterfinal match-up with Douglas to a third game, the Eagles were in no mood to play along. Douglas scored early and often Tuesday on its way to a 9-0 victory and a sweep of the Chiefs at Coral Springs High School.

After winning game one on Monday, Douglas was facing a tough task if it wanted to avoid a third game. On the mound for the Chiefs in game two was ace Thomas Woodrey.

Gibbons head coach Frank Pisani had Woodrey on a strict pitch count for the game, and early on, the Chiefs defense and Woodrey’s command ensured that pitch count would be reached much earlier than anticipated. The Cardinal Gibbons defense made two errors in the second inning, to go along with three walks, leading to three Eagles runs.

Those three runs were all that Douglas would need on this night, thanks to a strong pitching performance by John Valek. Valek, one of the Eagles’ aces, is coming off an injury. Against the Chiefs, Valek showed no signs of a lingering effect from the injury. He took control of the game in the second and third innings when he struck out six consecutive batters, two of whom were looking. Valek ended the game having pitched four innings, striking out seven and giving up no runs.

“He’s coming back from injury over the summer, and we’ve eased him along,” Douglas head coach Todd Fitz-Gerald said. “We had him on a good pitch count, and I thought he was actually getting stronger as the game went on. I think he’s going to be one of our front end guys and we have big plans for him, but we don’t want to rush him along. I’m excited about the way he threw tonight. He did a great job.”

The offense gave Valek plenty of support, breaking open a 3-0 game with two runs in the fifth, one in the sixth and three more in the seventh. The runs in the seventh came courtesy of the Eagles’ bench. Fitz-Gerald turned to the bench in the sixth, and it responded by scoring four runs in the final two innings. Brandon Smith had a single and Steven Solomon doubled in the seventh, while Ryan Rudolph drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.

The win Tuesday moves the Eagles into the semifinals of the HSBN/Perfect Recruits Fall Classic next Monday.

Before the tournament, Fitz-Gerald had a message for his team. Most of the fall has been laid back, but the new Eagles coach impressed to his team what this tournament was all about to it.

“We worked hard all fall,” Valek said. “Coach put an emphasis on this tournament. He said he wanted us to put our names out there and say that we’re back and we’re ready, and we mean business in the spring.”

Leave a comment using your facebook account!