Westminster Christian Returns To State Final
Anthony Vilar celebrates following his second-inning double.
Games at the state level of the playoffs are often decided early on. One team grabs the momentum, scores some runs and then typically never looks back.
After falling behind by a run in the top of the first inning, Westminster Christian made sure to be that team to take control and charge ahead with it on Monday. Facing Canterbury in a Class 3A state semifinal at jetBlue Park in Fort Myers, the Warriors immediately responded with all the offense they would ultimately need in the bottom half of the first. The team held the lead the rest of the way, walking away with a 4-2 victory that propels the club back to the state championship.
The Warriors (23-7-1) will take on North Florida Christian in the state championship on Tuesday afternoon. The Eagles advanced following a 3-1 victory over Bishop McLaughlin in Monday’s other 3A semifinal. North Florida Christian is the defending state champion in Class 3A, and it defeated Westminster Christian in the 2011 state semifinals to also claim the title that season.
“We’re very excited as a club to be here again. This is what we call the Promised Land, and it’s good to be back,” Warriors Manager Emil Castellanos said. “We were last here in 2011 and these guys have put in the work all year just to get here. We’re excited to get here and face an opponent that we lost to in 2011. We are going to go chase it and go do what we have to do as a team. We know they are throwing their big lefty and they are going to come at us with all their weapons. So are we; so expect a good game tomorrow.”
Looking to respond right away to its 1-0 deficit, the Warriors quickly loaded the bases in the bottom of the first. Adrian Mayans, Clinton Gulley and Julian Infante all drew walks to fill the bags. Michael Arencibia was hit by a pitch to drive in Mayans and tie the game, and also bring Jacob Zarello to the dish. The Warriors’ catcher jumped on the first pitch he saw and rolled it past first base into the right field corner, plating two runners to put Westminster Christian in the lead.
“I knew he was going to come right at me because there was nowhere to put me,” Zarello recalled. “I know he was missing a lot, but I knew he had good control of his fastball even if he didn’t with the first couple of hitters. The first at bat with Adrian Mayans he had a long at bat and he was hitting his spots with his fastball, so I knew he could do it. I knew he was going to buckle down and give me a strike with a fastball on first pitch. He gave me a low and inside fastball and I just jumped on it right down the line.”
While momentum is always important in baseball, Castellanos has been a part of enough games at this level to know that scoring runs is just as critical as being the team in control.
Ryan Terry earned the win on the mound, nearly going the distance while limiting the Cougars to one earned run.
“Any time that you get a run in a state ball game, that’s a big run,” Castellanos said. “To come back and put those runs on the board is what these guys have been doing all year. This year we played a very tough schedule; we feel we played the best of the best throughout the country. We’ve been in situations, and if you can breathe you are still alive. That has been our thing this year, ‘Don’t stop until your breath is gone’.”
The Warriors added another insurance run in the sixth. Dylan Cloonan legged out an infield single, advanced to second base on a wild pitch and then to third when Anthony Vilar reached on an error. Mayans drove a shot to left field deep enough to allow Cloonan to tag up and score on the sacrifice flyout.
Westminster Christian ace Ryan Terry earned the victory on Monday. The left-hander admitted that he did not have his best stuff early on, and that his team helped to lift him up by responding right away to let him pitch with a lead.
“It’s tough to control nerves in the states; and if a kid tells you he is not nervous he is lying to you,” Castellanos said. “I have been here a couple of times now to understand that the first inning is a crucial inning for both teams. You usually see most runs scored in the first inning, and as long as you can keep your composure and keep your kids intact, it is crucial. Our plan of attack was to make him throw strikes, and, if he does, then make him pay. That is exactly what Jacob Zarello did today.”
Terry listened to his coaches and made the necessary adjustments to find his groove. The southpaw began to locate his fastball, which opened up his secondary pitch and gave him the confidence he needed to believe the game would go their way.
“We’ve played a lot of big games this year, but none of them had a feel like this,” Terry said. “This one felt tight at the beginning, and emotions were everywhere. My boys had my back. I knew that, so I just needed to stay calm and play my game. The first couple of innings were rough for me and I made a couple of mistakes. But my defense had my back a lot; Anthony Vilar at shortstop made some tremendous plays and my boy Julian Infante made a great double play that I felt changed the momentum of the game completely. My catcher, Jacob Zarello, he just killed it.”
Terry admits he is not a strikeout pitcher, and that he doesn’t overpower batters. He focused on his game, which was to get a lot of ground balls and pop flies. He trusted the defense behind him, and the guys rewarded that faith with several big defensive plays. Perhaps the biggest play came in the top of the fourth, as the Warriors clung to a 3-2 lead. After a one-out single turned the Cougars’ lineup over and got the dugout stirring with energy, Infante snared a liner to third base and then fired across the diamond to Arencibia to double off the runner and quell the threat.
Canterbury (22-5-1) managed just two base runners the rest of the way, including a two-out single in the top of the seventh that chased Terry from the contest. Westminster Christian opted to turn to side-arm closer Jagr Enriquez, who needed just four pitches to induce a ground ball to first base for the last crucial putout of the afternoon. 
“Jag is a special guy,” Castellanos said. “Anytime you have one of those submarine guys that can come in, it is very difficult to find guys like him that go so many innings. A lot of times you see a side-arm guy and he has only like 20 innings. Well, he is like a starter for us, and he is up to 50 innings. He only allowed eight or nine hits in those innings and he doesn’t walk anybody. He is a groundball machine and he is going to get guys to put the ball in play. We have a pretty good team that is going to field every ball that he gets out there.”
Westminster Christian has ten championships in program history, including back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010 under Castellanos. Should the team add another championship trophy on Tuesday, the program would tie Key West for the most overall in state history.
“It’s definitely a big moment,” Infante said. “This program is about winning. I have been here since fourth grade and all I have known is winning, and nothing else. There is no other option, and yes, it is a big game tomorrow. It is a great moment to tie Key West in state titles. But it is just another game. We have to stay relaxed, play our hearts out and keep composure. Throw strikes, hit the ball; that’s baseball.”
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