Cypress Bay Edges West Broward For 8A District 12 Win

In a tightly contested game, the Cypress Bay Lighting did all the small things to earn a 4-3 win against a West Broward team that just would not go away.

As both pitchers started a bit shaky, the bulk of the runs came in the first inning for both teams.

The West Broward Bobcats pounced first, as third baseman Xavier Beltran hit a hard line drive to left field on the first pitch of the game. Beltran then stole second to put himself in scoring position. He advanced to third on an uncaught third strike to Christian Khawly. The throw to first was bad, allowing Beltran to score and Khawly to reach second.

With one out, the second run of the inning for West Broward came courtesy of center fielder Danny Pardo, who riped a hard liner to right field for a two-base RBI. The next two batters were out on a strikeout and pop-up to second base to end the inning for the Bobcats.

The Cypress Bay Lighting had a big first inning of their own, as Joey Rodriguez reached first base on an infield error. Rodriguez advanced to second and third on a passed balls. Ji Woo walked, putting runners at the corners with nobody out. Shortstop Danny Cepeda hit a bomb over the left-field fence for a three run home-run that put the Lighting in the lead.

Lighting pitcher Tommy Quintero got a base hit to left field. Quintero’s courtesy runner, Ben Fits, advanced to second on a fielder’s choice then stole third. Designated hitter Diego Maceda hit a line drive for a base hit to right field that brought in Fits for the fourth and what would be the winning run of the game for the Lighting.

“We’ve been behind now in both games in the first inning, and tonight we took the lead,” Lightning Manager Michael White said. “The kids are just playing with a lot of confidence right now.”

After the pitchers settled down, the game would become a pitching duel. The Lighting held the Bobcats to one hit in the second, and two in the fifth. For their part, the Bobcats pitchers held the Lighting hit-less for the rest  of the game.

“Matt [Hardy] was a little rusty, he only got one inning in the preseason and has pitched a total of two innings in two weeks,” Bobcats Manager Sergio Ambros said. “To his credit, he settled down and kept us in the ball game. We just didn’t do a good job adjusting to [the Lighting’a] pitchers.”

The Bobcats had a major opportunity with the bases loaded in the top of the third and could not capitalize with a key hit as the Lighting pitcher had back-to-back strikeouts to get himself out of the jam and put en end to Bobcat threat.

White spoke with pride about Quintero.

“Tommy is a hard-working kid,” White said. “He grinded it out. That’s what he does. Bases loaded, one out, and back-to-back K’s. He dug deep and found something special.”

West Broward found themselves in a similar position at the top of the fifth, loading the bases again. This time, the Bobcats scored, but it would not be enough to take the lead from the Lightning.

“We have to be better with runners in scoring positions, and we weren’t,” Ambros said. “We struck out way too many times. That was our downfall tonight.”

The win offered hope that the Lightning may be getting back to being among the top teams in the county again.

“It’s a special team this year,” White said. “We have kids coming back in certain key positions that are making plays for us.”

Leave a comment using your facebook account!