North Broward Walks Off Chaminade In Eighth

Tuesday night’s 4A regional final between Chaminade-Madonna and North Broward Prep was too good of a game to finish the way it did.

Unfortunately, games have to end at some point, and a walk-off walk was enough for the Eagles to edge the Lions 3-2 in eight innings.

“It’s kind of anti-climactic, but I’ll take it, especially against that team,” said victorious coach Brian Campbell. “They have two good pitchers and we just lucky enough to be the ones to be hitting at the end of the game.”

In front of an electric crowd, both teams hit home runs, played superb defense for the most part and got great pitching to combine for an enthralling back-and-forth contest.

Starting pitchers Shomari ‘Sho’ Thomas and Anthony ‘Moose’ Masiello had both sets of fans screaming their nicknames for the majority of the night as they both threw very well. Thomas, who threw nearly 90 innings this season, allowed just one run on six hits over five innings. That run came on a monster solo blast to dead center by Hernando Sierra in the second inning that opened the scoring. Masiello, meanwhile, would go six innings, giving up one run on three hits with eight strikeouts. What made the sophomore’s outing even more impressive was the fact he hadn’t pitched in a few weeks because of a dead-arm issue.

Before Thomas left the game, his teammates would ensure he wouldn’t take the loss when, in the top of the fifth, the speedy Nick Izquierdo reached on a superb bunt and then headed to second on a wild pitch. After a fly out by Mike Ramunno moved Izquierdo to third, he then scored on a Mike Drag single through the right side to tie things at 1-1.

It looked as if the Eagles (19-9) would take their lead right back in the fifth however when leadoff man Jared Schwait got all the way to third with two outs, but a great knockdown and field by first baseman Izquiedo got the Lions (12-17) out of it.

North Broward did eventually get their one-run advantage back in the bottom of the sixth when Sierra, who was 3-for-4 on the night, reached on a single and then scored on an RBI knock by Kevin Thomas. Eagles fans knew they needed just three more outs to win the game, but their celebration didn’t last long.

That’s because Juan Martinez decided the first pitch of the seventh inning from reliever Alex Ernestine was a good time to hit his first home run of the year. The blast was a no-doubter to left that sent Lions fans into ecstasy and silenced the Eagles faithful.

With reliever Mike Nader in for Thomas, Chaminade turned up the defense in the bottom of the seventh when a superb diving catch from shortstop Daniel Vitello helped snuff out a potential dangerous situation.

And the Lions thought they might be taking the lead for the first time in the top of the eighth when Shane Stockelman ripped a one-out double down the left-field line. A groundout got Stockelman to third, but he was left stranded there after a couple of force-outs at second base.

To lead off the bottom of the eighth, Brian Fagan decide to swing at an 0-2 pitch and poked a single to right. He moved to second after a walk to Edgar Badaraco, and things looked ominous for Chaminade. But, expecting the bunt, the Lions put the wheel play on and, despite the bunt not connecting, they ran the rarely seen defensive play to a tee and got Fagan caught between second and third.

A walk to Jake Emery and a single by Schwait loaded the bases with second hitter Mack Nathanson up. The crowd gasped collectively when he pulled a ball hard foul down the left-field line, but the early swing wouldn’t come back to haunt him as he took a very close third ball later followed by an easy take for the fourth ball and the win.

“We were just trying to be patient,” said Campbell of his team’s approach in the eighth. “I didn’t tell them to take, and Nader is a tough pitcher. We were fortunate to get out of here with a win. We’ve been in one-run games all year, so our guys are battle tested and they answered the call.”

North Broward will host Key West in Friday’s regional finals, while it’s the end of the 2014 road for Chaminade.

“Losing the way we did, that’s a tough pill to swallow,” Lions coach Mike Moss lamented. “They did everything we could ask: played great defense and got some key hits. There’s nothing but good things to say about what these kids have accomplished.

“Our JV team had a real good season and we’re just going to keep building and developing the youth. I like having kids for four years and having them come through the system and learn how we do things. By the time they’re seniors, they’re pretty hardened and ready to go.”

Leave a comment using your facebook account!