Ramcharitar Powers Plantation Past South Broward 3-2

For South Broward, it was a game of missed opportunities, but for Plantation, it was a game of luck.

The Colonels made that luck work for themselves and got a clutch hit from Mark Ramcharitar to edge the Bulldogs 3-2 in a District 7A-16 game Friday night at Plantation High School.

Ramcharitar doubled to center field in the bottom of the seventh to score Oniel Mejia for the winning run. It was the second hit of the night for Ramcharitar, who also scored the go-ahead run an inning earlier.

“He’s the clutchest guy in our program,” Plantation coach Albert Destrade said of Ramcharitar. “We couldn’t have had a better guy in that spot.”

Ramcharitar said he “knew we had a runner on base and I had to get something in the gap to get him in. He was throwing all fastballs and I was just sitting on it. We fought their pitcher. He was throwing strikes and getting outs, and we just waited for our time and shined. We’re going to fight until the last pitch is thrown.”

Both teams played through four scoreless innings before breaking through with a run each in the fifth. South Broward struck first as Mike Cohick got on base with a fielder’s choice and came home on John Maginnis’ RBI single. Maginnis finished 2-for-4 with a sacrifice bunt.

Plantation (2-2, 1-1) came back in its half of the fifth. Josh Viveros doubled and scored on a misplayed pop-up in the infield.

The Colonels took the lead 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth as Ramcharitar led off with a walk and came in when Daniel Vasquez walked with the bases loaded.

South Broward (1-3, 0-2), tied it in the top of the seventh. Dylan Weichhan was hit by a pitch, went to second on a wild pitch and took third on an error. He scored on Maginnis’ squeeze bunt.

Destrade said it was important for his team to get the win Friday — especially because it was a district game — after struggling through its first three games and scoring only two runs so far this season.

“It’s a huge win in this district,” he said. “Every game is huge. There’s so many competitive teams in this district. One through six, it’s the most complete in Broward I think.”

Destrade was proud of his team’s efforts to capitalize on South Broward’s mistakes.

“We’re a team that doesn’t get lucky often,” he said. “So it’s nice for one time when you’ve got a group of hard-working kids to catch a break.”

Destrade said the Colonels haven’t hit their stride offensively and he expected offense to be a strength. He commended the defense for “playing at a high level” and said pitcher Gus Cinquino, who went the distance, “gave us quality innings again.”

“Once we put our offense together and start swinging the bats, we should be a formidable team,” Destrade said.

Swinging the bats wasn’t much of a problem for South Broward as they collected eight hits, but capitalizing with runners in scoring position was something the Bulldogs couldn’t attain.

Coach Joe Giummule said it came down to his team not coming through on the “little things” that he preaches and his team works on.

“If you don’t execute, it’s difficult to win,” he said. “We’ve got to get better executing the little things and we’ll get better tomorrow.”

Giummule said he was encouraged by starting pitcher Kenny Rasor’s performance, saying “he pitched a hell of a game and deserved to win.” Rasor struck out eight and walked three in five innings. He also had two hits.

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