Monarch Edges Fort Lauderdale 2-1 In Tough Pitchers’ Duel

Monarch coach Joe Franco knows that there are still things that his team needs to work on and improve on.

The Knights coach also understands and accepts that there are some things he still needs to improve on as the team’s coach.

With the playoffs rapidly approaching on the horizon, Tuesday’s contest against Fort Lauderdale served as a great opportunity for both ball clubs to gauge where they are against a quality opponent.

Tuesday’s game at Fort Lauderdale High provided exactly the type of competition that both teams expected, as the Knights prevailed with a hard-earned 2-1 victory.

Monarch’s 4-2 win over Fort Lauderdale last month in the third-place game of the Nova Titan Classic helped to build up the excitement for the rematch on Tuesday.

“We knew it was going to be a battle, and we were excited to face their number one guy,” Franco said. “We were able to get two runs off of him, and I like what our pitchers were doing today. I need to go with my gut more in some situations, but I want to put the players in the best position to succeed.”

Although Franco may have second-guessed some decisions, Monarch (14-2) helped its cause by playing excellent defense and tossing an ace of its own.

Fort Lauderdale staked its ace pitcher on the mound in junior Brad Smith, and Smith did not disappoint. The right-hander kept the damage to a minimum, which helped keep the Flying L’s (10-5) in it until the very end.

The Knights scored all the runs they needed in the third inning. After Nick Sposa was hit by a pitch leading off, he came all the way around to score on a deep shot to left-center field from Bobby Jakubek that went for a double to even the score at 1-1. Two batters later, Monarch took the lead it would not relinquish when Kenny Finley got a hold of a pitch to center field for an RBI double.

“This was a heartbreaker for us,” Fort Lauderdale coach Terry Portice admitted. “We knew we’d match up well with them and we did. One clutch hit in a big situation was the difference. We got one early, they got one later. We couldn’t get another one all night.”

The Flying L’s struck right away against the Knights starter and winning pitcher, Andrew Pierson. Catcher Kenny Miggins led off the bottom of the first inning with a high chopper up the middle that he was able to leg out for a single. Matthew Gibson then laid down a picture-perfect sacrifice bunt, and Smith followed with a fielder’s choice groundout to move Miggins to third.

Alec Bryant came up with the Flying L’s biggest hit when he lined a shot over third base for an RBI single that easily scored Miggins. Bryant was 2-for-3 to account for half of the team’s offensive production.

“I felt all right. I am comfortable throwing all my pitches. That is what you have to do to be successful,” Pierson said, after altering his typical repertoire in response to Fort Lauderdale’s right-handed lineup. While he normally likes to work with his slider, he knew that would not be much of an option against so many righties that would have the pitch constantly coming across the plate for them – especially in a game both teams wanted so badly.

“It’s always good to beat a team more than once so that you know it wasn’t a lucky win the first time,” Pierson said.

Neither offense found much success against the two vaunted pitchers, as they locked into a duel that ironically ended with nearly identical results.

Both pitchers went six full innings, and both threw 58 strikes. Pierson threw only 25 balls, while Smith threw 26. Both ended with five strikeouts.

Such even results are typically only seen in a major motion picture, but on Tuesday there was no dramatic come-from-behind finish for the home team as closer David Webb picked up the save with a perfect 1-2-3 inning.

“Smith is the ‘Silent Assassin’ and he had some big strikeouts for us tonight,” Portice said. “This was an outstanding game for us. We held Monarch to four hits. It was a great game, but the bad part was somebody had to lose, and unfortunately it was us. We needed this game though because this will help us come district time.”

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