Nova Defense, Massaro’s Arm Carry Titans To 4-1 Win Over Pompano

The Nova Titans have a script for winning that has been matched by few teams in Broward over the years. The Titans can always be counted on to have pitchers who throw strikes and a defense that rarely makes mistakes. Last night, the Titans used that formula to secure their second win of the young season, 4-1 over Pompano.

Nova sent senior ace Troy Massaro to the mound in a game it expected to be highly competitive. The Golden Tornadoes have a new coach this season in Ryan Combs, and many believe Pompano will be one of the better teams in the county this season. The game featured two of the top pitcher’s in the county in Massaro and Tornadoes ace DJ Fenstermaker.

Through two innings, the pitchers’ duel that was expected came to fruition. The two pitchers combined for seven strikeouts through two frames, and it appeared that one run may be enough to win.

In the third, however, Fenstermaker did not come out to pitch, possibly being on a pitch count early in the year. The Titans immediately took advantage of the Pompano bullpen, scoring a run on Trent Monaghan’s infield single. Ruben Diaz had started the inning with a walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on Monaghan’s hit. The Titans closed the inning with a 2-0 lead.

From there, it was all Massaro. The senior struck out 11 Golden Tornado batters in 5.2 innings of work. Pompano worked guys on base throughout the night and had their biggest opportunity for a comeback in the sixth when Massaro walked the bases loaded before being relieved by CJ Chatham. With the tying run at the plate, Chatham needed only one pitch to retire Pompano lead-off hitter Nick Delgado on a pop out to first.

“It was good,” said Titans coach Pat McQuaid. “He got tired at the end, but we wanted to build his arm strength up. Besides that last inning, I thought he had a strong outing.

Chatham again worked out of trouble in the seventh. With the tying runs on base, Chatham induced a game-ending pop-up to first, giving Nova its second win of the week. Monaghan finished the game 2-for-3 with an RBI, and Diaz was on base twice in four plate appearances. Massaro and second baseman Lee Kinzel were both 1-for-2 with a walk for the Titans.

Although Nova is expected to be one of the top teams in the county, McQuaid has a group that has not played much together, and he knows it will take some time to gel as a unit. The Titans had two runners thrown out on the bases Wednesday night, and solid fundamentals such as base-running are always high on McQuaid’s priority list.

“We’ve got to get better,” McQuaid said. “We’re going to make some mistakes early. Kids are still learning how to run the bases. We didn’t bunt twice when we needed to. We have to grow into who we are.”

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