With just over a week to go in the regular season, Keys teams put together an impressive week on their respective diamonds.
Coral Shores did not know what to expect from a visiting Master’s Academy, which made a trip from Vero Beach to play all three Keys teams. The Hurricanes were the first to face the Patriots. Coral Shores pulled ahead with an early two-run lead in the first, but the Patriots made the most of a two-out rally to pull ahead in the third, then held on through the fifth inning.
The patient ’Canes put together a rally of their own in the fifth to reclaim the lead, then never looked back. Riley O’Berry started on the mound and delivered an impressive three innings of work. O’Berry also delivered on offense, reaching base on a double, then three more times after being struck by pitches for a perfect on-base percentage. Keller Blackburn had a pair of hits and three of the team’s five stolen bases. Maykol Bonito, Mason Clark, Jack O’Keefe and Brayden Turner accounted for the rest of the Hurricanes’ hits in the 7-4 win.
A March 26 home matchup against conference rivals Archbishop Carroll did not yield a favorable outcome for the Hurricanes, now 6-7. Jack O’Keefe threw four and two-thirds innings, striking out five before Glade Harrelson stepped in for relief. Harrelson, Riley O’Berry, Keller Blackburn and Noah Gookins had one hit each in the 5-0 loss to the Bulldogs.
Key West was next on Master’s Academy’s tour of the Keys. The Patriots paid a visit to the Southernmost City March 26 and suffered another loss, to the hard-hitting Conchs. Xavi Perez was perfect at the plate, going 3-for-3 with a pair of singles and a double. A beleaguered Patriots pitcher gave Perez his fourth base of the night after hitting him with a pitch.
Nelson Ong logged two hits and Tyrone Cervantes, Kade Maltz, Roman Garcia, Kristian Masters and Jackie Niles added one each for a team total of 10. Perez, Maltz and Ong each stole a base and the Conchs were perfect in the field in their 8-5 win over the Patriots. In all, four Conchs worked on the mound. Cruz Holmes got the start and the win with three innings of work. Holmes struck out six, walked two and did not give up a single hit or run. Christian Koppal, Carter Wirth and Auggy Davila all put in some work as well.
The next two nights were a mixed bag for Key West, when they split a two-game series against the 7A Bobcats of West Broward. In game one, Donovan Thiery struck out nine, walked one and surrendered five hits and one run in six innings. Thiery earned the win and Kade Maltz provided an inning of relief, striking out two. Ong and Garcia had two hits each and Thiery accounted for hit number five – an uncharacteristically low number for the Conchs, but plenty to win 3-1 over the Bobcats.
Game two saw the Conchs behind for the first three innings before pulling ahead in the fourth. The teams were knotted up at 4 until the seventh inning when the Bobcats went on a tear, taking advantage of an error, four hits, three walks and a hit batter to score six runs and put the game out of reach for Key West. Ong and Garcia each had a pair of hits while Davila, Niles, Thiery and Darreld Tremino added one apiece. The Bobcats saw pitches from the majority of Key West’s bullpen, with Ong, Davila, Cervantes, Beau Bender and Bennett Logan sharing the workload. The 10-4 final put Key West, ranked No. 4 in all of 4A, at 17-3.
Fifty miles northeast, Marathon piled on four runs against visiting Immaculata-La Salle on March 23 and all indications pointed toward a win through five innings of play. Then came the sixth inning. La Salle strung together six hits, three walks, a fielder’s choice and an error to score eight runs and make a Marathon win unlikely, if not impossible. Dylan Williams, Roco Piscetello and Massimo Quargnali each doubled and Gabriele Cirina singled in an unusually low-hitting game for Marathon. Williams got the start on the mound, striking out six in four and one-third innings before three more Fins stepped up to split the finish. The 12-4 loss gave the Dolphins a four-game slide they had no intention of extending.
The Fins successfully ended the slide March 27 in a 5-1 victory over Master’s Academy, whose tour of the Keys was already marred by losses to Monroe County’s other two teams. Cirina went the distance for the Dolphins, striking out 12, walking three and surrendering just three hits over seven innings. Cirina’s bat was equally effective against the Patriots; the senior slugger was 3-for-3 with a pair of singles and a double. Curren Nicolay added a pair of hits and Jack Chapman, Reef Rella, Roco Piscetello and Massimo Quargnali accounted for the rest. The win put the Fins at 11-7-1 on the season.
The Fins’ momentum kept rolling with a historic 3-0 shutout win over Coral Shores on March 30 – the first time the Fins snuffed out their northern rivals in the team’s last 10 matchups.
Williams carried the load both on the mound and behind the plate, throwing six innings with 9 strikeouts and only one hit allowed before Chapman stepped in to shut the door on the ’Canes in the seventh.
An explosive first inning set the tone for the rest of the matchup, as the Fins blanked Coral Shores’ first three batters before sending a trio of their own across home plate. Seven total hits fueled Marathon’s offense – two doubles from Williams, plus singles from Miles Murphy, Quargnali, Nicolay, Bradley Buigas and Cirina. For a full game recap, see the April 9 edition of the Keys Weekly Sports Wrap.
April 11 is the final day for regular-season games, with district action opening April 14. Last season, Keys baseball teams pulled off an unprecedented feat: All three teams secured district titles.
