Monarch Shakes Up 7A-14 With Win Over Fort Lauderdale

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The first time Monarch faced new district rival Fort Lauderdale, they fell to the Flying L’s ace Matt Freeman. The team was pretty sure they would see him again in the rematch, and on Thursday afternoon on their home field the Knights got their wish.

What Monarch also got was some payback, as it prevailed 6-2 to hand Fort Lauderdale its first district loss of the season. Monarch completes district play with a 5-1 record in 7A-14 and assures itself of no worse than a tie for the top seed, with a tiebreaker scenario to be determined later on down the road should it become necessary. For now the Knights (10-4) can sit content with a narrow hold of the top spot, while the Flying L’s (7-5-1) look to sweep their final two district contests to also close at 5-1 and force such a decision.

It was a playoff atmosphere with a lot at stake, and both teams were well aware of it. Yet for its intensity and competitiveness, the game was also marred by a rash of errors on both sides. It was Monarch who was able to make the most of their chances.

“We put the ball in play and forced them to make mistakes. It’s all about minimizing your strikeouts and putting the ball in play,” said Knights Manager Joe Franco. “As far as the actual game goes, both teams made some mistakes. But the good teams try to find ways to take advantage of those mistakes, and our boys did that pretty well today.”

Coach Franco admitted this was a big win for their program, as their new district has three comparable teams competing for two available playoff spots. Monarch has its sights set on making it to regionals this year, and securing the top seed in the district sets up a match up against an Ely team that has yet to win a game this season, while the second seed would likely face the defending district champion Northeast Hurricanes.

Had the Flying L’s swept the season series with a win on Thursday Monarch would have been locked in as the second seed. Now the Knights have complicated those matters, and let Lauderdale see they are a force to be reckoned with.

“Fort Lauderdale already beat us one time this year so it was important that we came back and proved that we can beat them,” said Franco. “Talk is one thing, but talk is cheap and you have to prove it on the field. My boys certainly did that today.”

Flying L’s Manager Terry Portice was at a loss of words following the outcome. The veteran skipper understood that his team had squandered a golden opportunity and likely forced the team to shake some things up to help get them back on track. The Flying L’s will not be content simply to make the regional playoffs; they are in it to win a district title this season.

“This was disappointing, extremely disappointing,” said Portice. “I was just real disappointed in the effort we gave and they came out and got clutch hits when they needed it and played some defense when they needed to. They beat us today.”

Matt Freeman has pitched every inning of district play for Fort Lauderdale this season, which included going the distance in Thursday’s defeat. The right-hander had an up-and-down day, but was hurt by some big errors that accounted for four unearned runs. He pounded the strike zone on 62 of his 92 total pitches and followed the game plan to force the Knights hitters to swing the bats.

“He certainly deserved a better fate, but it didn’t happen today. That’s baseball,” Portice said of his starter Freeman. “With the exception of the one inning in which he hit the two batters, he did what we asked him to do. He got ground balls and he got some fly balls. But we harp on throwing for ground balls, and when he throws them we’ve got to execute the plays. We didn’t do that today.”

Monarch grabbed an early lead with an unearned run in the first, when Joey Hennessey scored after Nick Alonzo reached on an error. Alonzo had a big day on both sides of the field of play, coming up with some key hits while also picking up the victory on the mound. The righty tossed five innings on 88 pitches and recorded three strikeouts, and also drove in the winning runs for his club.

Alonzo came to the plate with runners on every base in the bottom of the fourth, and the senior delivered with a big hit. Nick Taylor led off with a walk and was lifted for Brett Beuchert, Nick Ritornato reached with an error and then Jon Benestad lined an infield single off the umpire to load the bases. Since the ball hit the umpire when he was standing in front of the defender, the runners were correctly ruled to remain on their bases to put Alonzo in position to deliver with the bases juiced.

“I figured I was going to get a good dose of curveballs and he fell behind and then came with a fastball down the middle. I was looking dead red and I put some good contact on it,” Alonzo said. “It’s an awesome feeling, especially when you’re pitching, to get as many runs as you can produce for yourself.”

Alonzo roped one past the diving shortstop to plate two runners and put his club comfortably ahead at 4-1. Courtesy runner Eddie Mercado added another insurance run when he came in on a successful double steal.

From there it was Alonzo’s game to control.

“I was just looking to get as many outs as possible,” he said. “It was a rough day and some of the guys in the field struggled, but I always have these guy’s backs and I just went out and did what I had to do and shut them down.”

Benestad also had a strong showing, reaching base all four trips to the plate while going 2-for-3 and reaching by error. The Knights catcher padded his team’s lead with an RBI single to score Joey Gerber in the sixth, and he also accounted for another run when he was hit by a pitch and then watched his courtesy runner Mercado come home on a sacrifice flyout off the bat of Joey Rugare in the third.

Lauderdale got on the scoreboard to even things up in the top of the third inning. Matthew Sweetapple walked, then got a great jump on a 2-1 pitch to steal second base and put himself in scoring position. Corey Stern followed by sending a liner to center field to put runners on the corners, and Lucas Berken jumped on a 1-0 offering to line an RBI single to center.

Stern delivered again in his next at bat, popping an RBI single to center to again drive in Sweetapple, after the third baseman was hit by a pitch to get on base. Stern had a strong showing overall, stepping up on several big plays on defense by snaring two hard hit balls his way and also diving out and nearly tracking down a third on a foul ball well out of play to the right side.

Unfortunately, Stern seemed to be the only one with a hot glove on this warm and breezy spring day. Each club committed four errors in all, something uncommon for either one.

“My biggest thing is defense. We botched about six plays out there today,” Portice said. “They put the ball down in play and we didn’t help ourselves on defense. Obviously that is one of the things we still have to work on. I think the last time you interviewed me we were working on it, and we’re still working on it. Defense is a huge thing, because I would rather have a 2-1 game then an 8-7 game.”

The Knights rebounded from their miscues by also closing out each of the final two frames with a 6-4-3 double play in support of closer Brennan Bosworth. The hulky right-handed Bosworth wasted little time in attacking the batters, pitching two scoreless innings on just 15 total pitches to earn the save.

“He’s a big dude, about 6’7”, and a guy coming in like that after one of us is just awesome,” Alonzo said. “A guy who can just go throw strikes and shut it down is all you can ask for. Brennan did that today.”

It was a big victory for Monarch as they prepare for the stretch run. Coach Franco challenged his team to respond in their second meeting of the season, and he was pleased with how he saw his leaders step up to pave the way, particularly his guys on the mound.

“I’m just real proud of those two seniors,” said Franco. “Alonzo has been pitching well all year and we gave him the opportunity to pitch last week against Northeast and he did very well. We gave him the opportunity in this game and he didn’t have his best stuff by any means; his command was a little off. But it just shows the fight and the bulldog mentality he has that even without his best stuff he can go out there and give our team a chance to win. Then Bosworth, another senior, coming in and closing the door with the two-inning save; I am just really proud.”

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