Archbishop McCarthy One Win From States

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The same words have been heard coming out of the Archbishop McCarthy dugout over the past few weeks.

“You’re not a rookie anymore.”

This is often shouted by Mavericks Manager Rich Bieski, while encouraging the 2015 young version of McCarthy’s latest powerhouse team. On Tuesday evening, those words never seemed more true and a pitching staff, offense, and defense that was led by sophomores carried the weight in a 3-0, 5A regional semifinal win over rival American Heritage.

“We said all offseason that if ever there was a time to get us, it was this year,” said Bielski. “We had a really young team to start the year, and not much returning experience. But halfway through the year, these young guys starting growing up, and we no longer considered them rookies.”

That band of “rookies” is showing everyone that regardless of age, or experience, the Maverick way will always show through.

“Just because we were young, that doesn’t mean we didn’t have goals to win a state title,” said sophomore Adan Fernandez, the hitting star for the Mavericks on this night. “We are taking one game at a time, and tonight we wanted to win badly, after they beat us last week in the district final.”

Ah yes, on the other side of the field Tuesday was the 5A-16 champion Patriots, who sent their own youngster out to the mound. Freshman Bailey Mantilla, who defeated Archbishop in the district final, was saddled with the opportunity few pitchers have done in recent years, beat the Mavericks twice.

It looked early as if Mantilla would again stifle the Archbishop offense. He threw two scoreless innings before surrendering a solo home run to Fernandez, who finished the game 2-for-3, with two RBIs.

“That home run got us going early,” said Bielski. “Adan has been getting some lift in the baseball lately, and he certainly had a great night tonight.”

Of course, offense is only one aspect of the game. To win state titles, teams must be strong in several areas, and it was another Mavericks sophomore that set the defensive tone early.

In the bottom of the first, Chase Reyes singled and then advanced to third on a failed pick-off attempt. With one out, Justin Lamanzares scorched a line drive that appeared headed down the line. However, Mavericks first baseman Alex Toral snagged the hard-hit ball and quickly threw to third, doubling off Reyes and ending the inning.

Toral added several other defensive plays throughout the night to keep the Maverick shutout alive.

“Toral was a beast over there tonight,” said Bielski. “He had several showstopping plays that if he didn’t make them, we could have been looking at a different outcome.”

Heritage Manager Bruce Aven agreed.

“Toral was unbelievable over there tonight,” said Aven. “Sometimes you have nights where balls fall in and things go your way, and sometimes they go the other team’s way. Tonight was their night.”

The third part of the game necessary for a championship team is solid pitching. Enter Mavericks starter, sophomore Daniel Federman. The Mavericks ace threw four shutout innings, allowing only three hits. When his day was done, Bielski turned the ball over to one of the few seniors on this year’s Mavericks squad, Brian Van Belle, who promptly closed out the final three innings while allowing only one hit.

“Both guys did a great job tonight,” said Bielski of his pitchers. “For a sophomore to go out there and come up big like that in a game with this type of atmosphere, that’s something special.”

Nearly 1,000 fans were on hand to witness the fourth installment of Mavericks-Patriots, and those fans were treated to what they expected, a low-scoring, well-played baseball game.

“There is not much room for error when we play these guys,” said Aven. “I told my guys, ‘Everyone’s season is going to end at some point. One team will have their season end holding up a trophy, and all the other teams will have their season end with the feeling that we have tonight’.”

Part of Archbishop’s success in 2015 has come courtesy of the long ball. That was again the case Tuesday, with two of its three runs coming via home run. Jake Ancia added to Fernandez’ blast with a solo shot of his own in the sixth, extending the Mavericks lead to 3-0.

The Mavericks have now reached the regional finals for a staggering seventh straight year. Despite the youth, Archbishop players still have one vision.

“We are taking one game at a time, and tonight we earned one more game,” said Federman. “It will be good to have the home crowd behind us Friday, but we still have to stay focused and execute our game plan to get where we want to go, which is states.”

The Mavericks will host Merritt Island, a 9-1 winner over Umatilla, in the regional final. Game time will be at 7 PM at Archbishop McCarthy.

As for the Patriots, they will start looking towards 2016, but not before Aven had some words for his seniors.

“This was a great group of kids this year,” said Aven. “They all played for each other, and they were very coachable. We worked very hard this year. Nobody knew what to expect from us at the start of the year. We didn’t even know what to expect. But these players made a name for themselves. Nobody likes to lose, but it is part of baseball. They played well tonight, and things didn’t go our way, but this season was still a very positive experience.”

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