7A-15 Playoff Preview: We’ve Been Here Before

7A-15
Host: Monarch High School

Monday, April 22nd

4PM – Game 1 – (4) Boyd Anderson vs. (1) Northeast

Tuesday, April 23rd

4PM – Game 2 – (3) Coconut Creek vs. (2) Monarch

Wednesday, April 24th

Rain Date

Thursday, April 25th

4PM – Championship – Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner

Full stats for 7A-15 can be found on the 7A-15 Stats Page!

Overview – Unless some odd occurrences happen Monday and/or Tuesday, it’s pretty clear Monarch and Northeast will be meeting for the title on Thursday. Just like last year.

Both teams go into the district playoffs having won five games, splitting their series.

Coconut Creek has only been able to beat Boyd Anderson, which hasn’t beaten anyone in the district.

1. Northeast – Manager Kevin Carney has the Hurricanes ready to do battle in the district playoffs.

The Canes open the district tournament at 4 p.m. Monday against Boyd Anderson, who they defeated 32-1 over two games in the regular season. A win Monday puts them in the final against Monarch likely. Monarch first has to beat Coconut Creek on Tuesday.

The Hurricanes, who earned the top seed by virtue of the tiebreaker rules, and Monarch have played some competitive games with one another over the past couple of seasons. Their first meeting this year was won by Northeast 3-1. Monarch came back the next day and took care of business, defeating the Hurricanes 12-2.

Northeast got into the regionals last year for the first time since 2005, so the Hurricanes will be looking to continue their postseason run past the regional quarterfinals like last year.

As a team, the Hurricanes are batting around .315 with six hitters eclipsing the .300 mark. Ralph Morel has been the top player on offense this year, leading the team with an average around .530 and 23 runs.

Nehymiah Neumann is batting around .365, DJ Kelly around .330 and Vicent Duarte around .327. Mike Grossfield and Carlos Perez are the other plus-.300 players.

Morel leads the pitching staff with about 30 innings, and three other pitchers — Eduardo Uriarte, Isaiah Blackwell and Abrallis Jimenez — around 20 innings.

2. Monarch – The Knights enjoyed their best season in school history last year as they won a district title for the first time and competed in the regionals for the first time as well.

The Knights took that momentum over into this year and have finished the regular season at 10-7.

Monarch opens the district tournament against Coconut Creek, a team it has beaten 10-0 and 11-0 earlier in the season.

Hitting is a big strength of the Knights, who as a team are hitting about .364. Five batters are above .300 this year, led by Gino Poliandro, who’s hitting around .550 with a team-leading 24 runs. He also has hit nine doubles.

Anthony Morales is batting just over .400 with 17 runs and 11 RBIs, and Nick Ritornato is right around .400 with 14 runs and 10 RBIs. Nick Alonso has scored 22 runs to go wit his average around .380. Andrew Rohloff is hitting around .330.

Alonso has led the pitching staff this year, throwing about 35 innings with just over 50 strikeouts and an ERA about 1.60. Morales, Rohloff and Brennan Bosworth are the other main pitchers on the team.

3. Coconut Creek – Although its been another lackluster season for the Cougars, they do have reason to celebrate as Manager Roger Davidson recorded his 400th career victory last week when the team defeated Hallandale.

Creek has managed just four wins this year, defeating Boyd Anderson twice along with Ely and Hallandale.

It’s been a while baseball was something for Coconut Creek High School has been excited about. The once baseball power hasn’t made the regional tournament since 2005.

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