Region softball roundup: John Carroll bounced in extras, Centennial blanked by top seed
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FORT PIERCE – When Samantha Rychter lofted a fly ball to left field, Rico Rosado had grand illusions.
From the third base coaching box, the John Carroll Catholic High softball coach knew his team had tied the game, but he was thinking even more.
“I thought we won the game,” Rosado said. “That kid came out of nowhere. It was an unbelievable catch.”
Florida Christian School left fielder Kianny Gil had different ideas. Racing toward the fence, Gil made a leaping catch from the side just in front of the warning track for the final out of the game.
The grab sealed the Patriots’ 4-3 victory in 10 innings over the Rams in the Class 2A-Region 4 semifinal Tuesday afternoon at Pam Drawdy Field.
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Third-seeded Florida Christian (19-8) advances to the regional final Thursday at top-seed Westminster Christian. Scoring three runs in the sixth inning and five in the seventh, Westminster Christian (19-7-1) defeated four-seeded Oxbridge Academy, 9-8.
Second-seeded John Carroll Catholic ended its season at 24-5.
“That’s why the ball is round,” Rosado said. “There are no sides.”
Extra-innings strategy
With the teams tied at 2-all heading into the eighth inning, a ghost runner (the batter who made the final out in the previous inning) was placed on second.
In the top of the eighth, Florida Christian bunted the runner to third and she crossed on a sacrifice fly to center, despite a strong throw from center fielder Briley Orton.
In the bottom of the eighth, John Carroll Catholic employed the same strategy. Malory Vaudrin bunted Aubrey Grall to third and Makayka Ortiz knocked Grall in with a single to center.
In the top of the ninth with the middle of the batting order up, the Patriots did not employ the bunt. Ortiz struck out two sandwiched around a pop to short.
That gave the Rams a chance to win it in the bottom of the ninth with their middle of the order up. With Rychter on second, Bella Ramirez bunted her to third. Florida Christian elected to walk Orton intentionally. The Patriots could not play O’Brien’s bunt in front of the plate, and John Carroll Catholic had the bases loaded with one out.
Mikale Lemons bunted into a force out at home and a pop to short ended the ninth inning.
“We should have won the game in the ninth: one out, bases loaded,” Rosado said. “There was no reason why.
“What are you going to do? We couldn’t get a bunt down in the Texas tie-breaker.”
In the top of the 10th, a sacrifice bunt and sacrifice fly by Gil provided what proved to be the winning run.
In the bottom of the 10th, Vaudrin got down a sacrifice bunt with one out. Ortiz was hit with a pitch to send up Rychter.
“I told Sammy, ‘You’re not bigger than the game. Just look for a hole. I don’t need a home run. I don’t need a fly ball. I need a ground ball up the middle to tie the game.’ ” Rosado said. “She hit the crap out of the ball. And I honestly thought it was going to drop.”
Patriots got the early jump
Florida Christian broke out on top in the second inning. Emily Ruiz drew a one-out walk, Shaun Fernandez followed with a single. Kayla Diaz singled to right and Ruiz beat catcher Vaudrin’s tag after a strong throw from right fielder Tori O’Brien for the first run. Fernandez crossed on a groundout to shortstop.
It remained 2-0 until the fifth inning.
John Carroll Catholic began timing Patriots pitcher Serena Guillen, who struck out six in a row from the first to third inning.
With one out, Mackenzie Mostoller singled and Grall walked. Both advanced on a wild pitch. With two outs, Ortiz drilled a long foul ball down the left field line before hitting a 3-2 pitch for a two-run, game-tying single.
“She carried us the whole game on her back,” Rosado said of Ortiz. “It’s sad it had to end this way.”
In addition to knocking in all three runs for the Rams, Ortiz went the distance in the circle. The junior allowed four hits and walked one with 10 strikeouts.
“I’d go to war with Mo any time,” Rosado said. “She was tired. She was fatigued. Her leg was cramping. I was going to put in a runner for her. She said no. She’s the real deal.”
Not the first time the Patriots broke the Rams’ hearts
Florida Christian also defeated John Carroll Catholic two years ago in the same round.
In the regional semis, this time in Miami, the Patriots scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to walk-off the Rams, 2-1.
“That was emotion, that one,” Rosado said. “The walk-off was errors.
“This one we had in our hands. We let it slip away.”
That was a main topic in the post-game chat,
“We had our chances, more than once. That’s what I told them in the huddle: They did the little things and we didn’t,” Rosado said. “That’s what killed you.”
John Carroll Catholic graduates 3 seniors
Left fielder Lemons, center fielder Orton and first baseman Ramirez are the three seniors who graduate from John Carroll Catholic.
“They gave it their all. They meant a lot,” Rosado said. “Four freshmen wanted to come to play with Ramirez. Briley has been here three years and has made a difference. She redefined center field. Mikale is Mikale: speed, fast. We’re going to miss them.”
The Rams have a solid nucleus returning.
“We lose three. We have girls who play those positions,” Rosado said. “We just have to condition them to play our way.”
Rosado pointed to a freshman like O’Brien, who shined on the varsity level.
“Girls like Tori O’Brien stood out from the beginning as a freshman,” Rosado said. “She redefined right field for us. Anything hit out there was caught.”
Region 2-7A semifinal
No. 1 Wellington 5, No. 4 St. Lucie West Centennial 0
Wellington High wasted no time getting on the scoreboard, scoring in the first inning, two more times in the second and adding another run third en route to shutout home win over St. Lucie West Centennial.
The top-seeded Wolverines (20-4) capped their scoring with one in the sixth while handing the Eagles (16-8) their third shutout loss of the season.
Both teams had four hits. Jaelyn Cooke, Rayne Cophen, Autumn Prakash and Giana DeVris had the hits for Centennial. The Eagles made three errors.
Senior Tori Payne struck out 10 in seven innings to gain the win in the circle for the Wolverines.
Hailey Brereton fanned eight in six innings for Centennial.
It was Wellington’s second shutout victory of the season over the Eagles. The Wolverines defeated Centennial, 9-0, Feb. 28 in Port St. Lucie.
Wellington moves on to the regional final Thursday at home against second-seeded Jupiter, a 3-1 winner over sixth-seeded Boone.
Region 4-5A semifinal
No. 2 South Fork 2, No. 3 Sebastian River 0
The Bulldogs are headed to their second regional final in the last three years after blanking the Sharks. Visit TCPalm.com for more on this game.
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Dennis Maffezzoli is a freelancer contributor for Treasure Coast Newspapers.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Region softball roundup: John Carroll falls in extras to Florida Christian
