Pines Charter Raises First District Banner

The vibe in Pembroke Pines Wednesday night felt like a backed up water hose ready to burst. Pines Charter was seven innings away from their first district championship in school history. Standing in the way of that feat was the right arm of Brandon McCabe, and the Boynton Beach Tigers.

Big games call-for big arms, from big players, in big situations, and that’s what everyone experienced from the two stand out starters in the 6A-14 championship game.

Freshman McCabe took the mound for the visiting Tigers, in an effort to spoil a Jaguar celebration on their home field. McCabe has been Boynton’s go-to guy all year long, and on the brightest stage of the year thus far, he shined brightly in a 14 strikeout performance.

With the weight set on his shoulders, senior Derick Garcia received the nod for the Jaguars in their opportunity bring home the trophy for the first time. Garcia, with the experience and poise, was able to match McCabe pitch-for-pitch, before one-upping him in the most important stat of the night.

In the first the offense for both teams came out with their energy built up and ready to swing, as the pitchers tried to calm their early nerves. Half the hits in the game were recorded early and scoring chances arose for both clubs.

Christian Perez led the game off for the Tigers with the sun beaming over the left field fence. Perez jumped on a fastball early in the count and hit a single up the middle. That would be the final hit Garcia would allow the rest of the night.

With Perez on early, Stephen Kaczmarek laid down a textbook bunt to move Perez to second. Presented with their first scoring opportunity of the night, Garcia struck out counterpart McCabe and forced a ground ball for the third out.

“I tried to do to much early, I really found it in the second, and kept it through the fourth,” said Garcia. “Then when I started to lose it again late, I tried to gain composure and throw strikes.”

Pines Charter came out of the gates swinging against the young McCabe, hoping they were able to exploit him early for a few runs. Alex Monge-Rodriguez led off for the Jaguars with a chopper that forced the shortstop to make a backhand play, but he was unable to make a throw. Using his legs to get into scoring position, Monge-Rodriguez swiped second with a head first slide.

Offensive difference maker Jake Jacobs accounted for a part in all the runs scored Wednesday night. With Monge-Rodriguez in scoring position, Jacobs first contributed with a single to left to drive in the initial run for the Jags.

“That kid has some really good stuff. I battled up there and fouled some tough pitches off. He hung a curve ball and I just turned on it,” said Jacobs on his first at-bat.

After a swinging strike out, Garcia approached the dish to give himself a little run support. Garcia drove a ball to shallow center, and Malik Horne dove trying to rob Garcia of an RBI. Unable to come up cleanly with the ball, Garcia and the Tigers took a 2-0 lead.

McCabe finished the inning with no further damage after striking out the next two Jaguars batters. This would become a common theme throughout the rest of the game, as both pitchers heard strike three repeatedly.

Garcia threw six shut out innings, he fanned nine, allowed one hit and besides an intentional base on balls in the first, his only walk came in the fifth.

“It feels good to accomplish something no other team has. I’m happy we did it for the coaches and for the team,” said Garcia. “We need to hit and pound the strike zone if we want to continue to win further.”

Danny Melgarejo came in the seventh to pick up the save and close the door on any comeback that may have been brewing. In a combine 3-0 shut out, Pines Charter celebrated on the mound for their first championship in school history.

“I’m very proud of my players, all year long they have worked very hard during practice and it showed during the game,” said Pines Charter Manager Carlos Iglesias. “We have a great group of kids that come hard every day and want to practice and get better. We will be back at it tomorrow.”

The season didn’t come to an end for either team Wednesday night, as both teams still advance to regionals next week.

“It was a good game, unfortunately we shot ourselves in the foot with a few mistakes early, but its irrelevant since we didn’t score any runs. 3-0, 1-0, it’s all the same if we cant score,” said Boynton Beach Manager John Drouin.

Drouin has the next few days to prepare his team and help get the lineup going before Boynton takes the field in regionals.

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