Danny Ramirez and Antonio Melendez combined on a three-hitter as the Osceola Kowboys (13-4) won the first ever Orange Belt Conference baseball tournament with a 7-1 victory over Harmony (7-9) on Friday night.
Osceola dominated the week-long tournament in 31-2 fashion, defeating Poinciana in a Monday quarterfinal, 15-0, and Tohopekaliga, 9-1, in Wednesday’s semifinal.
Tohopekaliga took third place with a 4-0 win over St. Cloud in the consolation final. The Tigers were outhit in the game, 8-1, but scored four unearned runs in the victory.
It was the first time the OBC baseball champion was determined by a tournament. Previously the title was determined by results of season-long round robin play. The tournament was first proposed in 2020, the year COVID-19 messed everything up.
The Kowboys took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, when Luis Rodriquez and Ramirez connected on back-to-back two-out doubles, before breaking the game wide-open with a four-run second. With a runner on first and two outs, Lamar Vazquez singled to left and Isaiah Jean-Baptiste drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases. One pitch later, sophomore switch hitter Nick Palmi sent a 1-0 pitch from Conner Davis over the left field fence for a grand slam and a 5-0 lead.
Osceola upped the lead to 6-0 in the third on back-to-back singles by Blake Birchler and Edwin Melendez, followed by a Harmony throwing error.
Meanwhile, Ramirez was keeping the Longhorns in check. Leadoff hitter Cade Walter started the game with a single but Ramirez would pick him off and retired 12 of the first 14 batters. Harmony finally scored in the fifth when Jaxon Janilla ripped a one-out double to center to put runners in scoring position, then Samuel Castro scored on a wild pitch. But Ramirez would strike out Davis and retire Nixon Rodriguez on a comebacker to the mound to end the threat. Ramirez threw 5 1/3 innings before giving way to Melendez.
“Danny did not have his best stuff tonight,” Osceola Coach Scott Birchler said. “But he threw strikes and made Harmony put the ball in play which allowed his defense to do the work for him tonight.”
Jean-Baptiste’s sacrifice fly in the sixth tacked on another insurance run for the Kowboys; while Melendez allowed just one hit and struck out the side in the seventh to preserve the win.
It was the seventh straight win for the Kowboys after a 6-4 start to the season, and Birchler hopes his team will continue to build on the momentum of the winning streak and conference championship over the final three weeks of the regular season.
“I really didn’t think we were playing that poorly in the first couple of weeks, I just think we weren’t really hitting on all cylinders and was lacking a little consistency. Lately we have been getting good pitching, timely hitting and playing some pretty good defense and when you do those three things, you can win some games,” Birchler said. “We have some momentum going now and it’s something we certainly want to continue as we move towards the district tournament.”
In other action, Liberty (10-5) beat Celebration (4-7) in the fifth place game.
