Zion Lutheran Tops Mater East In Class 2A

Tuesday was Judgment Day for the South Florida teams competing in the regional semifinals. The teams that were left in the regional bracket played today for their chance at the finals and even further, State. Although not everyone will be able to taste the glory of a championship, no team that made it this far can be denied their skill and adeptness in the game. But only seven of those 15 will now have their shot at the title.

The Zion Lutheran Lions were among those teams that made it up to the top and took home a win. The Lions shut down Mater East Academy 4-0, scorching the Scorpions with their hot shot Alex Ernestine. The 6-foot-4 lefty stymied Mater with his speedy fastball that left most batters swinging late and only allowed three hits. From a team that had totaled 127 runs in a season (Mater), this kind of turn out is usually unexpected.

Zion will host a regional final at 3:30 p.m. Friday against Westwood Christian.

Ernestine had his first meet with Mater on Tuesday, earning their respect after the game as they went up to him during an interview and patted him on the back for his win. His record with the Lions does not tell the true success that Ernestine produces on the mound, but it is clear that Zion feels safe with their ace on board for the finals.

“I felt confident,” Zion manager Mike Dobre said. “Every time we put Alex Ernestine on the mound, it gives us a chance to win every time.”

Ernestine was pleased with his outing.

“I felt great great,” said Ernestine, who struck out 12. “I felt like my fastball had great zip to it. I was hitting inside, outside, low high and this is probably the best game I have thrown all year.”

Mater’s inability to bring in the runs came mostly from their momentum of the game. Batters didn’t show the confidence that is required in this level of play. And when a strong lefty like Ernestine is on the hill, the diffidence of the offense can fuel the tenacity of a pitcher. The Scorpions are also a young team and couldn’t pull it together when the Lions got the early jump and scored three runs in the second inning. Mater could only respong later in that inning with one hit from their short stop Paul Gomez, who was left stranded on second after two subsequent infield outs.

Zion just seemed more prepare for this game than Mater East. They showed up to the game with their pitcher controlling the strike zone and their offense landing hits and getting on base. The game did stay close after the second, though. Although Mater was unable to get a man in scoring position, Zion left four guys stranded on base and was only able to score in one more run in the sixth, where Senior Nick Vazquez hit a single pass the reach of the Scorpions second baseman to score in Marco Pinto. Mater was unable to respond to the late game runs, striking out in the last at bat from a fastball that was too high to swing at.

“We came in playing Westwood, the first game this season, which is a team in Miami,” Ernestine said about facing a team out of Broward County. “They were kind of a like: scrappy, fast and really talkative. Our mindset coming in was to get them quiet by scoring first.”

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