O’Connell Powers Flanagan To 8A-13 District Title

Flanagan’s sixth straight district title didn’t come easy. The Falcons needed the arm and the bat of Dylan O’Connell to nip West Broward 1-0 in the 8A-13 championship game Friday night at Flanagan High School in Pembroke Pines. In addition to pitching a complete-game, five-hitter, O’Connell delivered the game’s only run when he smacked his fifth home run of the season over the right-center fence in the fifth inning.

“I knew it was a tight game,” said O’Connell, who also had a single on his 2-for-2 night. “Our hitting wasn’t what it was supposed to be tonight. I was just trying to make a difference tonight.”

Flanagan will host Hialeah High in the regional quarterfinals on Wednesday night. The team has grown accustomed to playing the opening round of the playoffs at home in recent years, and thanks to O’Connell that trend will continue.

“He’s very tough mentally,” Evans said of O’Connell. “Over the course of the year, he’s gotten better and better. He’s a junior, and he’s already committed to FAU. There’s a lot of good baseball in that kid yet to come.”

The difference between the performances of O’Connell and West Broward’s Nick MacDonald was slim. O’Connell fanned eight and walked two, and he was sharp from start to finish. He allowed just four hits and walked none against a powerful squad that has scored in double digits seven times this season.

“Top two teams in the district and both teams have good pitching staffs. We’re fortunate, as they are, we’re pretty deep. Both Dylan and Nick did good jobs,” said West Broward Manager Sergio Ambros, whose team will visit 8A-District 14 champion Miami next week in a regional quarterfinal.

Although West Broward (14-10) never reached third base, the Bobcats had plenty of chances to score. Their leadoff batters got on base three times, including a long double by Samyr Santos off the fence in center on a play in which Flanagan’s Eric Rivera was shaken up when he crashed into the fence. Rivera remained in the game and later made the catch of the night on a running grab in the seventh.

West Broward received two hits from Michael Perez in the eight-spot. However the Bobcats stranded runners in every inning but the first, and left a total of seven on base.

“We outhit them. We left a lot of guys in scoring position,” Ambros said. “We couldn’t come up with the big two-out hit when we needed it. That came back to bite us, but I tip my hat to Dylan. He did a good job, as did Nick.”

West Broward threatened right up to its final at-bat. With two outs and nobody on in the seventh, pinch-hitter Daniel Ableman drew a walk, which brought Flanagan Manager Ray Evans to the mound. He was ready to take the ball, but O’Connell successfully lobbied to stay in the game.

“He said give me one more guy. I gave him one more guy and he got the job done,” Evans said.

After courtesy-runner Brandon Jenkins advanced to second on a passed ball, O’Connell fell behind 2-0 to Steven Revilla. But as he did in critical situations all night, the southpaw dug deep and came back to notch a game-ending strikeout on a 3-2 pitch.

Similar scenarios came in the second and third innings, when O’Connell ended the innings with strikeouts after falling behind in the counts. Rivera and Mark Vientos had singles for Flanagan (19-5).

“We’ve got to do a lot better job hitting the ball,” Evans said. “MacDonald is a very good pitcher. He controls the breaking ball; he spotted his fastball; he had a little zip. I don’t think we were ready.”

West Broward could get another crack at Flanagan if both teams win their quarterfinals.

“Hopefully we can do our job and I’m sure Flanagan will do their job and in 11 days we come back and meet up again the regional semfinals. That’s what we’re hoping for,” Ambros said.

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