Cooper City Comeback Punches Championship Ticket

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Through the first 14 innings the two district 8A-12 rivals played against each other this season, the Western Wildcats had the Cooper City Cowboys’ number. That trend continued early in Wednesday’s quarterfinal match-up as the Wildcats staked themselves to an early lead.

But the Cowboys remained undaunted. Behind great relief work by Angel Almonte, Cooper City used some late-inning heroics to stage a huge comeback, earning the right to play for a district crown by winning 5-3.

Cooper City will play Cypress Bay at 4 p.m. Thursday in the title game.

The Cowboys’ rally began in the fifth inning when they got two runs back without getting a ball out of the infield and managing one hit. With one out, Cooper City loaded the bases via a hit-by-pitch, a Brett Marks dribbler to no-man’s land in between the mound and first base, and a walk. A wild sequence then ensued when a wild pitch went to the backstop. While coming in to score, a throw from behind the plate meant for the Wildcats’ pitcher who was covering, hit the runner and bounced back towards the visiting dugout, allowing Marks’ run which was being represented by pinch runner Andrew Shapiro to score as a result of one errant pitch. With all of the goings on behind the dish, Steve DiPuglia was able to go from first to third on the play, paving the way for Parker Britton’s game-tying RBI single, completing the Cowboys’ comeback.

“When we fell behind, I got a little more aggressive on the base paths,” Manager Chris Delgado said. “We had a hit and run, and they threw a couple balls in the dirt and I had to capitalize. That one skipped out away, and I sent both of them. It was do or die at the point, and I had to get us back in the game.”

After making a great play on defense to end the home half of the fifth inning, Jonathan Miller came up as the first batter of the sixth frame and created the eventual winning run nearly by himself. After walking, Miller stole second and third. He then read JJ Acevado’s cue shot off the end of the bat that landed in between the mound and first base perfectly, getting a third great jump and making a terrific slide just under the tag of the opposing catcher.

“I was seeing the ball well all game,” Miller said. “I felt I had good approaches. I didn’t get many pitches I liked, so I just layed off and walked in a couple at-bats. When I was on the bases, I got good jumps; I got his timing down and was able to move around. In the sixth inning, JJ hit the ball to first base. The infield was playing in, but I was able to get a good jump and made it home.”

Delgado lauded his center fielder’s ability to be a catalyst and put the team on his back by giving an outstanding individual effort.

“He spark-plugged this whole thing,” Delgado said. “He got on, stole some bases and made things happen. He definitely got us going tonight.”

Miller’s run and the Cowboys’ insurance run that came off the bat of Marks and plated Acevado came after the Cowboys chased Western starter George Helbig. Though they were unable to muster much off of Helbig in the way of contact, they were able to force him to throw a lot of pitches by working a lot of deep counts and displaying good patience to get in to the Wildcats’ bullpen. Delgado said the approach against Helbig was exactly what he drew up.

“He’s faced us twice already this year and we’ve scored one run in those 14 innings,” Delgado said. “I told the guys they had to get aggressive early in the count, and late in the count, when you have two strikes, you’ve got to battle and try to put it in play. We did a really good job of that and strung him out. We knew once we got to the bullpen, we had a good shot. We just had to get past the starter who has had a great year.”

Eventual winning pitcher Angel Almonte came on with a man on base in the fifth and promptly ended a scoring chance by getting a strikeout and inducing a ground ball. Two tough errors put another Wildcat in scoring position in the sixth, but again, Almonte was able to strand it by way of the strikeout and a flyout. Featuring a healthy diet of low-90s fastballs with a good mix in changeup and a nasty curveball that dropped off the table late, Almonte dispatched of Western hitters in relatively short order in the seventh to seal the victory.

“I was just trying to keep calm and throw strikes,” Almonte said. “I just wanted to keep throwing fastballs. I knew some of them could touch it, some of them couldn’t. I also had my slider working. It worked out for me.”

Despite the huge feel-good victory, there will be little time to celebrate for the Cowboys. After playing until almost 10 p.m. on Wednesday, they will take on the Cypress Bay Lightning for the district crown at 4:00 on Thursday. Despite the quick turnaround, Delgado has confidence that his team will be back with the same energy, ready to do battle tomorrow afternoon.

“We’ll be ready. We’ve been ready all season,” Delgado said. “We only used two guys tonight pitching-wise so that was huge. We’re set up to hopefully get a victory; we just have to get it going the same way we did tonight. “There’s no turning back now; this is it. We’ve got to win a district.”

The Wildcats staked themselves to an early three-run lead on the back of a third inning Waylin Cleri RBI and back-to-back home runs in the fourth inning. The first long ball, a towering shot to dead center field, belonged to first baseman Joseph Spano and the second came off the bat of Erik Lassman who did not miss a single stitch of the ball and banked it off a palm tree behind the left-field fence.

Helbig had his stuff from the get-go, working ahead in the count and pounding the zone. He put a man at third in the second inning and another man in scoring position in the third, but with a fastball consistently in the high 80s and occasionally in the low 90s, as well as a good running slider, he was able to strike out three and induce a flyout to end those threats.

“They worked him a little more than they did early in the year,” Western Manager Paul Barnes said. “They got those three runs with no balls leaving the infield; they just put the ball where they need to put it.”

Though they saw their season come to an end after a heartbreaking loss, Coach Barnes said his team has nothing to be ashamed of. He praised their ability to give 100% day in and day out and hopes it remains as the Wildcats continue to improve, a road which Barnes admitted will be tough and lengthy.

“Effort was not an issue this year. I can’t complain about one of these kids,” Barnes said. “We just didn’t get enough. We did better than we’ve done the last couple years, but we still have a long way to go.”

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