Pompano Catches Fire In Victory Over Coral Glades
The Tornadoes were aggressive in keeping the momentum in their favor throughout their rain-shortened victory.
The only thing that could cool the bats was an unfortunate rain storm.
Pompano Beach and Coral Glades slugged their way through five exciting innings Thursday night, before a pounding rain storm washed through to cut things short. The two clubs combined to tally 18 hits, but it was the Tornadoes that capitalized the most to grab a 7-3 decision for their first road victory of the young season.
Pompano (3-4) got some big hits in the third inning to drive in the decisive runs. Nick Marcantonio ripped a double into the left field corner and Christian Perez drove a single past third base. Andrew Perez came in as a courtesy runner for Christian Perez, and quickly put those legs to use as Vince Costello battled through a drawn-in defense to loop a single over third that brought in both runners and allowed him to advance to second on the throw home.
Costello broke for third base on the first pitch, stealing the bag easily off the strong jump he was able to make. Kelsey Lunde followed to make the play every guy wants to accomplish when he dropped down an excellent bunt on a suicide-squeeze attempt. Costello sprinted down the line on the pitch and Lunde placed it softly on the infield grass and then raced ahead of the throw to first for the RBI single and a 5-0 lead.
For a Pompano club that saw this game come right smack dab in the middle of six district games in the schedule, they came to the field with extra motivation to play with the same passion that they have brought to the first three district contests they’ve just played.
“Last year, we played with a level of intensity in our district games, and we need to come out with that in every game,” said Pompano Manager Ryan Combs. “We have to do that in every game, because this is a good team and a good group of guys. We had some motivation to come out and play well because we are in the middle of the districts. We’ve just got to treat it like a district game. These guys gave it to us in the fall and we kind of used that a little bit as momentum to come out here and play them.”
The Jaguars (2-4) answered back in the fourth. Christian Rodriguez and TJ Densmore walked to lead off, with Ken Johnson coming in as a courtesy runner for Christian Rodriguez. Sid Williams came to the plate and connected on a 1-1 pitch to soar it into the left-center field gap for an RBI double. Williams also scored on an RBI single from Alex Lara to cut the deficit to 5-2.
TJ Williams got the start and responded by attacking the batters to throw 53 of his 81 pitches for strikes.
But prior to Williams crossing home, the Tornadoes came up with the biggest play of the night. Juan Rodriguez hit a soft dribbler to short, holding the runner a moment to wait for the throw to first base before breaking for home. But the first baseman Marcantonio collected the throw from shortstop Garrett Hiott and then fired home to catcher Christian Perez in time to record the out at the plate.
“We didn’t have a lot of opportunities to run early on, but when we got aggressive with runners on second and third, we took an opportunity with a dribbler,” said Coach Jeff Silverman. “We got to the bullpen, we had some opportunities early and we just couldn’t finish. We had a runner on second, runners on second and third, but we couldn’t hit. Those two-out hits win ball games, and we couldn’t come through when the opportunities presented themselves.”
Pompano added a pair of runs in the fifth when hunter Stept lined a two-RBI single into the right field corner to score Costello and Lunde, who had both singled to reach base.
But the biggest impact on offense came right out of the gates from the leadoff spot, where the shortstop Garrett Hiott set the tone from the very first pitch. The junior fell behind 0-2 in the count to Jaguars starter TJ Williams, but then battled off six pitches before bouncing a leadoff single past second base. Three batters later Christian Perez poked an RBI single into left field to send Hiott in with the first run of the night.
Hiott was a presence from the top of the order, taking a total of 19 pitches in three at bats and battling on his final strike each time.
“He’s the perfect guy for that spot,” Combs said of his leadoff hitter Hiott. “He’s like the prototype leadoff guy; he sees a lot of pitches. Not only does he get on base, but everybody else sees what the guy’s got before they come to the plate. It’s a confidence builder when you know your leadoff guy, who is one of our captains and the starting shortstop, goes up there and battles and finds a way to get things done. It just sets the tone for the whole game. I was real happy with how we did that.”
Despite the result, Coach Silverman was pleased with the performance of TJ Williams. The right-hander tossed three and two-third innings and pounded the strike zone the whole night. Williams hit the zone on 53 of his 71 pitches, and recorded four strikeouts.
“TJ’s a bulldog, he wants the ball every time he can, and he threw strikes,” said Silverman. “That’s always the plan is to pound the zone, and make adjustments when you see hitters tendencies. They didn’t square many baseballs early.”
The Jaguars made one final push in the bottom of the fifth. Johnny Mendez sliced a single past third and gave way to courtesy runner Preston Vegotsky, who promptly advanced to second base on a passed ball. Michael Grey drilled an RBI single down the right field line to complete the scoring on the night.
The Jaguars made a late push for a comeback bid that was cut abruptly short by weather.
The Tornadoes retired the next two batters to close things out, before the game was officially called with Hiott holding a 1-1 count to lead off the sixth.
It has been a tough start to the year for the Jaguars, and Thursday night brought little reward. The most promising part of the evening came in the way the players battled a tough competitor, and then also the elements.
“These kids right now, they are playing with a heavy heart and they are growing up fast,” said Silverman. “They had some brothers with bad news who had to step aside from the program, and we’ve got kids playing up that are trying to make the most their opportunities. We are shuttling guys around to try and see what fits. We have another non-district game early next week and then a Game of the Week against Douglas, and hopefully we’ll have the right pieces for the puzzle for that game.”
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