Nova Comes Back Against Cooper City To Win 6A-14 Title

It’s been five years since Nova last claimed a district title, but the Titans (14-8) took down the Cooper City Cowboys (16-6) Thursday night, 5-2, and are once again officially district champions.

Nova trailed for most of the night, but a four-run fifth inning was enough to put the team out front for good. Errors helped tie the game with no outs, and then Nova put on a bunting clinic. Three different Titans reached during the inning after laying down a bunt, and starting pitcher Gavin McClure gave himself an insurance run with a big RBI single. One more run crossed on a wild pitch, and then McClure came back out to shut the game down.

“I came in before the game, I knew it was going to be a dogfight,” McClure said. “We lost to Cooper City early in the year, and I told my boys, ‘I’ll have your back if you have mine.’ Things will happen. I’m not going to be perfect, but I always keep my head on and I get through everything.”

McClure, unfortunately, had to come out in the bottom of the sixth with two outs after reaching the 105-pitch limit. He earned a standing ovation from the crowd for his six strikeouts across 5 2/3 innings as he jogged in and switched gloves to take over at first base. Right fielder Nick Evans pitched in relief of McClure, as he typically does, and retired all four batters he faced.

“I trusted Gavin the whole game,” Evans said. “He battled against them earlier in the season. Unfortunately, we lost. We just had a few errors that game, and we knew what kind of game this would be… Honestly, when I came in the sixth with two out and all I needed was four more outs, I had no pressure on me. They had to score the runs, and I just had to throw strikes.”

Defense might have been an issue for the Titans the last time around against Cooper City, but there were no such problems this time around. Nova did make one error on a mishandled bunt in the second, but Evans and McClure had complete faith in the players behind them for all seven innings.

Just before Evans went back out for the bottom of the seventh, McClure went up to him and said, “we have the best defense in Broward County.” Evans nodded in agreement, set down his shoulder tube and headed back out to get the save.

“We stress defense, defense, defense, because defense wins championships,” Titans manager Briain Luebkert said. “Our defense came to play… That’s a very good Cooper City team, and our kids rose to the occasion tonight. I’m very proud of them.”

Luebkert praised his team for putting in the hours to make this district championship possible. Every day of practice is an hour of bunting, an hour of defense and an hour of hitting, and the players have bought into the program fully.

The results speak for themselves, and Nova is now guaranteed a spot in the regional tournament, which begins next week. Cooper City should receive an at-large bid as well to regionals, but official word doesn’t come in until Friday.

The Cowboys played a very good ball game aside from a fifth inning that snowballed. Starter Bryan Borrego took the loss but only gave up one earned run in a game that his team provided two runs in support. He struck out eight along the way and worked his way out of a jam in the fourth with the lead still intact.

“I think it was just uncharacteristic baseball from us,” Cowboys manager Chad Rose said. “We’ve been pretty good about stopping the bleeding when it happens. I think just maybe in a title game these guys wanted it so bad, maybe we were pressing a little bit. A little uncharacteristic, but it was just one of those days and it didn’t fall our way.”

Rose is hoping that the disappointment his team experienced Thursday night fuels a fire next week for regionals. He praised Borrego’s performance and is looking for just a little more consistency at the plate.

For Nova, the district title is a major one. It signals to the rest of Broward County that the Titans are indeed back, and this might only be the beginning of what’s to come for the program.

“Nova athletics have been down a little lately and all of our sports have struggled,” Luebkert said. “That was our mission this year: to put Nova back on the map.”

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