Ends inspiring run through playoffs
The clock finally struck midnight – figuratively and literally -- for the Harmony baseball team Monday into Tuesday. Vero Beach’s Caleb Wood delivered a two-run single to give the Indians a 13-3, 5-inning run-rule win over the Longhorns in the Region 7A-3 championship. The contest began at 7 p.m. but was paused in the second inning by a two-hour and 30 minute lightning delay.
The loss ended Harmony’s historic run just one game short of what would have been the first State Championship Final Four appearance in school history.
“We’ve haven’t made excuses all year and so we won’t start tonight,” Longhorns coach Heath Williams said. “This team has had a ton of adversity this year with a lot of injuries and yet never given up. They fought to the end and I just told these guys how much I loved them and how proud I am of them for what they accomplished this year.”
Although Williams said he was not going to make excuses, the Longhorns certainly had the deck stacked against from the beginning – especially after an emotionally draining 10-6 upset win in Jupiter in Friday’s regional semifinal. In that game, Yathniel Matos went 3-for-4 and scored three runs and Isaiah Santiago went 2-4 with four RBI including a bases-clearing double as Harmony put up five runs in the second and four in the fourth to take a 10-3 lead it wouldn’t surrender despite Jupiter’s attempted seventh-inning comeback.
For a second straight game, Harmony was down two starters; catcher Jose Scrofani was out with a hand injury while the projected starting pitcher Evan Christ was scratched for a second straight game with shoulder tightness. That was on top of three projected starters that Harmony lost earlier in the year.
Still things started off well for Harmony, Iziah Santiago and Clayton Williams opened the second inning with back-to-back singles. After the lengthy weather delay, Angel Medina drove in Santiago with a sacrifice fly to make it 1-0. After Vero tied it in the bottom of the second, the Longhorns plated two more runs when Samuel Castillo doubled in Matos and Williams followed with an RBI single to make it 3-1.
The momentum quickly shifted to Vero in the bottom of the third when Finley Holmes led off the inning with a towering home run off Lebron. Although it only cut the deficit by one, it gave new life to the Indians bench. Williams lifted starter Alexavier Lebron for Ashton Magorrian and although the senior would give up just one hit, Vero took advantage of an error, two walks, and a sacrifice fly to score three more times in the inning and take a 5-3 lead.
“I felt bad for Bronny (Lebron),” Williams said. “He said he was having trouble gripping the baseball because of his thumb, but we simply didn’t have a lot of options for a starter. That home run to lead off the inning really zapped our momentum.”
Vero got two more in the fourth on just one hit to make it 7-3 and sent nine hitters to the plate in the fifth to end it.
Vero Beach finished with just eight hits but Harmony pitchers gave up eight walks and hit two batters, and two other runners reached on errors.
“Give them a lot of credit, they took advantage of the walks by following them with key hits,” Williams added. “When our pitchers were having trouble finding the zone, they were patient and took their walks. When we got behind and had to throw strikes, they attacked. They are a really good, disciplined team.”
Vero Beach (24-4), now headed the Class 7A state tournament Friday in Fort Myers, came into the game hitting .348 and averaging more than eight runs a game.
Harmony (18-12), finished the game with seven hits, including two each by Nate O’Neill and Williams.
