An explosive offense powered a three-win week for the Marathon Dolphins baseball team, starting with a March 3 road trip to face the Gators of Glades Day. The game would be the Dolphins’ first test in their new FHSAA 1A Rural district, and the resounding 13-2 win bodes well for the Fins in their new classification. Gavin Leal drove in five runs off three hits to lead the charge for Marathon. Dylan Williams also registered three hits, three RBIs and a pair of the Fins’ six total stolen bases. Williams also earned the win on the mound, fanning six batters, walking one and allowing no hits in three innings. Jason Stubblefield tossed two innings of relief.
The next night, the Fins flooded Riviera Prep with 23 unanswered runs over four innings in a mercy-rule win over the Bulldogs. Leal and Williams led the Fins offensively again with three hits each. Two of Leal’s knocks were doubles, and Williams tripled. Jack Chapman, Shane Dieguez and Mason Thornton all had two hits apiece. The Dolphins amassed 21 hits from 14 different athletes. Gabe Leal earned the win for Marathon, pitching two innings before Shane Dieguez came in to close it out for the Fins.
Two nights later, Marathon hosted Ransom Everglades in a much closer matchup. The Dolphins bested the Raiders 4-1 off six hits, with two each from Williams and Gabe Leal. Drew Suarez stole a pair of bases to keep Ransom on their toes. Mason Thornton tossed six innings, striking out five, walking three and giving up three hits. Williams struck out two in an inning of relief. The Fins’ four-game win streak came to a halt on March 8, when the Thunder of JC Bermudez Doral came. The Thunder found themselves trailing by one in the top of the sixth inning when they took advantage of a pair of hits and a hit batter to score two runs. The Dolphins left two base runners stranded in the bottom of the sixth, but things looked brighter in inning seven when Williams started things off with a single and quickly advanced to second on a wild pitch. That would be the only base action the Fins saw, though, and the 3A Thunder went home with a 2-1 win over the Fins.
Williams’ two hits made it 10 for the week for the sophomore, and Jack Chapman added a pair of hits to the team’s total of seven. Gabe Leal pitched six and one-third innings, striking out six, walking one and surrendering five hits. Williams pitched two-thirds of an inning, striking out both batters he faced.
Coral Shores improved to 7-1-1 last week, picking up their fifth and sixth consecutive win of the season. The first victim would be the visiting Bandits of ABF Academy Homestead. Campbell Lavoie was masterful on the mound, striking out a dozen Bandits, walking three and surrendering six hits over six and two-thirds innings. He would face 30 of 32 batters before having to come out due to pitch count, handing the ball to Riley O’Berry to seal the win.
“I do not like to throw guys that long but he was in a groove and kept getting stronger each inning,” said Hurricane coach Joe Szymanski.
Offensively, senior AJ Putetti was 3-4 at the plate, driving in two of the Hurricanes’ three runs. Derek Ramos had two hits, a single and a double, and O’Berry added two base hits to the Coral Shores’ 10 total. The team pulled off the 3-2 win with patience and some savvy. The game was tied at zero until the third, when the Bandits took a 2-0 lead. Coral Shores tied it up in the bottom of the fourth, then waited to strike in inning six to come ahead and hold on for the win.
“The team is starting to realize that there are specific things they need to do at the plate depending on the circumstances,” Szymanski said. “They are not going up there and just swinging away – they are doing their job at the plate.”
The following night, Coral Shores traveled to Hialeah, defeating the Thoroughbreds 6-3.The Hurricanes piled on 11 hits – three from Donovan Thiery and two from O’Berry, who drove in three runs. Coral Shores sprinkled in some base thievery to help boost their score, with four stolen bases. Putetti and Maykol Bonito were responsible for two each, and an error-free day in the field helped the ’Canes pull off the win.
O’Berry, Thiery and Derek Ramos all saw action on the mound, holding the Thoroughbreds to just four hits. Pitching, in general, has been outstanding for the Hurricanes this season, and Szymanski attributed much of the team’s stellar record thus far to his hurlers.
“The pitching staff has been remarkable up until now,” he said. “If they keep performing like that, we will be hard to beat.”
The Conchs made an unusual mid-week road trip to play the Raiders of St. Thomas Aquinas in Fort Lauderdale. Key West scored two in the top of the first, then opened the floodgates in inning five, crossing home seven times via six hits, three walks, a sacrifice bunt and a hit batter. The rally was too much for the Raiders to overcome and the Conchs held on for a resounding 10-3 win. Key West’s 10-hit total was fueled by Jackson Bernhard’s two base hits. Sam Holland and Caden Pichardo each doubled in the win. Jon Carlos Lampas Gormley earned the win for Key West, pitching for four innings, then Christian Koppal stepped in to seal the deal.
On March 7, the Conchs hosted Westminster Christian for the first of a two-game series. The Warriors struck first, scoring one run in the second inning. Things looked good for Key West in the fourth frame, when they collected two of their three hits, but both base runners were left stranded. The Warriors added runs in the fifth and seventh to beat the Conchs 5-0. Pichardo, Kade Maltz and Roman Garcia each had a base hit in the loss.
The following afternoon, Key West put the first run on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first, then added two more in the second. However, the Warriors amassed five runs by the top of the fifth to pull ahead. Key West narrowed the lead to one in the bottom of the sixth, then put together an exciting series of events in the bottom of the seventh. Jackson Bernhard walked, then advanced to second on a Warrior pick-off attempt error. Nelson Ong’s sacrifice bunt sent Bernhard to third, but two outs put the comeback in jeopardy. Roman Garcia then got on first the hard way, getting hit by a pitch and taking his base.
Caden Pichardo, whose bat has been consistent lately, sent a hard line drive into center field, scoring Bernhard and Garcia for the walk-off win. Lampas-Gormley earned the win, throwing three and two-thirds innings after stepping in for starter Christian Koppal. Koppal struck out five in three and one-third innings, walking four and surrendering two hits. Lampas-Gormley fanned two, walked one and allowed four hits in the exciting showdown.
But the Conchs’ weekend was not over yet. Scheduled for Saturday night was Spanish River, a 7A opponent out of Boca Raton with a solid record and ranking. The Sharks put on a pair of runs in the first and another in the third and managed to keep the Conchs off the scoreboard through five frames. Trailing 4-0 in the bottom of the sixth, things looked bleak for Key West. Then Maltz was hit by a pitch and made his way to second on a groundout.
Up to bat was Pichardo and his dependable bat. Pichardo sent a line drive to left field to score Maltz for the first Conch run of the game. A Sam Holland walk and Auggy Davila single narrowed the Sharks’ lead to two. Spanish River’s lead quickly turned into a deficit via two walks, a pair of fielders’ choices and some wild pitching from the Sharks. Key West held on for the win and would not need their final at-bat to defeat the Sharks 6-4. PIchardo, Xavier Perez, Maltz, Ong, Davila, Garcia and Bernhard all singled in the win, and Ong added a stolen base to his stats. Cruz Holmes earned the win, pitching five and two-thirds innings, then Davila threw one and one-third innings of relief for the 7-3 Conchs.
