Great Scott! Calvary Wins Semifinal On A Walkoff

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In baseball, fortunes can change on a dime. You hear coaches say it all the time: It only takes one inning, one pitch, one hit, one run, to change a game. Never has that been more evident than when the Stallions of American Heritage-Delray lost 2-1 to the Calvary Christian Acadamy Eagles in Wednesday afternoon’s 4A regional semifinal.

Going into the bottom of the final inning, the visiting Stallions were clinging to a one-run lead and all momentum seemed to be on their side. Their starting pitcher, Hunter Bowling, still was on the bump having allowed just one hit thus far, and his defense had turned a spectacular 4-6-3 twin-killing to end the sixth and whip their fan base into a frenzy. One inning was all that separated the Stallions from a return to the regional championship for the first time since 2012.

The upstart Eagles, who were playing in regional competition for the first time since 2012 when they lost to the Stallions in the quarterfinal, refused to let any of that deter them. Their first batter fell into an 0-2 hole before flying out to center field, but still the Eagles persisted. The chatter from the dugout grew louder as teammates shouted words of encouragement to the second hitter, Nick Benevento. Like his predecessor, the Calvary right fielder also made contact and sent a ball towards center field. Some confusion among a trio of Heritage defenders allowed this ball to drop in, and by the time the smoke cleared, Benevento was standing safely on second base.

Now just a base hit away from tying the game, the chatter from the dugout intensified and the noise from the home fans began to drown out that of the visitors.

Winn Allen was next to the plate. He had grounded out in the third inning and had been robbed of a double in the fifth when Stallions right fielder Nathan Zuckerman made a fully-extended, diving catch of his soft liner. This time, fortune favored Allen. He roped another line drive, only this one found the gap between left and center field. The hit brought Benevento around to tie the game and left Allen on second as the go-ahead run with just one out.

“I was just trying to fight off pitches,” Allen said about the at-bat. “I knew he was eventually going to give me a good pitch and I was trying to get the one I could drive. I fouled off three pitches before that and then I just got my pitch and I did what I did with it.”

One pitch. One hit. One run. All three could now change the fortunes of the Calvary Christian ball club and put the Eagles just three games away from a state title.

The call of duty came to freshman Christian Scott, who had manned first base all night for the Eagles but had been passed over in the line-up in favor of a designated hitter. In his first at-bat of the game, the youngster wasted no time gauging what Bowling was offering. He swung at the first pitch, made contact and sent it into the outfield for a walk-off base hit.

“I haven’t had an at-bat in a while, and I was just trying to get a fastball I could drive,” Scott said about his season-saving hit. “It was the first pitch, so I jumped on it, and thank God it landed.”

While the cheers from family and friends in the stands reached a fever pitch, the dugout erupted as the Eagles swarmed each other in celebration.

Meanwhile, Heritage fans fell into a shocked silence as the Stallions watched their opponents celebrate in stunned disbelief.

One pitch. One hit. One run. That’s all it took to end one team’s dreams and stoke another’s.

Of course, no game consists of just one inning. The first six and-a-half of this one were a true pitchers’ duel. Facing off against Bowling was one half of what Calvary’s pitching coach likes to call his “Dynamic Duo,” Tommy Taborda. Like Bowling, Taborda was lights out through much of the early going. He breezed through the first two innings, seemingly catching Heritage hitters off-guard with his mixture of speed and location. He did hit some rough spots in the third and fourth innings, but both times managed to work through them. In the third inning, he notched the fourth of his five strikeouts with runners on the corners and two away, and in the fourth he followed up two consecutive base hits and a walk by inducing an inning-ending ground out.

“Honestly, those are my favorite situations to pitch in,” Taborda said. “I feel like I just dig deep, shove it in there and try to get out of it.”

The fifth was another story. Dylan Gordon led off the inning with a single for Heritage, and Tyler Frank blasted a double into deep left field in the next at-bat. If not for two great throws by Allen and second baseman Brett Lawson to gun down Gordon at home, Scott’s heroic hit may have only been enough to tie the game instead of win it. As it stood, Frank was driven home by Jonathan India’s sacrifice fly two batters later to give the Stallions their only run of the game.

Meanwhile, Bowling took a no-hitter into the fifth and a one-hitter into the seventh. He allowed four walks and hit a batter with a pitch, but only once did an Eagles base runner make it past second base before that fateful final frame.

The other half of the “Dynamic Duo”, Andrew Gottfried, inherited the 1-0 deficit when he came on in the sixth inning to finish out the game. Gottfried did not give up a hit during his time on the mound but did allow two base runners via an error and free pass. He stranded them both though, and struck out two more to eventually earn the win.

“I don’t feel any pressure,” Gottfried said. “I have eight guys on the field working with me, trying to get to the same goal that I’m getting to. So it’s not one guy out there trying to pitch, it’s nine guys out there working hard.”

After heaping praise upon Heritage, and Bowling in particular, Calvary Manager Gregg Mucerino admitted that many tight games over the course of the season gave his club the confidence to succeed in this one.

“Over the season, we’ve been in those situations before,” Mucerino said. “When you win a lot of games, you build some confidence and you believe that you’re going to find a way. That’s what this club does, with great senior leadership.”

The win sets up a showdown with Gulliver Prep in the regional finals for Calvary.

On the other end of the spectrum, a promising season for a talented Heritage club comes to a screeching and heartbreaking halt. They have been involved in numerous one-run affairs throughout the season and each of their two previous playoff games went into extra innings. As such, they had become accustomed to living on the edge. But this time, unlike the others, they were not able to pull through. With a roster chock full of seniors making their final bid for a state title, the outcome was especially hard to swallow, not just for the players, but also their Manager, Carm Mazza, who spoke quietly after the game.

“We’ve been on the good and the bad,” Mazza said about all those close games. “It’s been a long, hard-fought year. And these guys played hard to the last out, no matter which way it bounced.”

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