Bats Come Alive For Southridge In Win Over Coral Park

Danny Matos and John Chadwell each knocked in two runs as part of an offensive outburst from the Spartans as Southridge went up 7-0 before allowing the Coral Park Rams to even get on the board in an impressive 11-7 win Wednesday in preseason action.

“We got a got idea of what our guys are capable of,” head coach Ed Doskow said. “Opening night, we swung the bat well, got on the board early and kept the pressure on.”

The Spartans powered out of the gates to a four-run first inning, taking advantage of a hit-by-pitch to load the bases before a wild pitch and beautifully orchestrated hit-and-run off the bat of Matos made it 2-0. Chadwell was next to bat and delivered a run-run single before the game’s lone double play ended the inning.

“I liked our aggressiveness behind the plate,” Doskow said. “We did have some opening-night jitters, but our pitching was great. If that fluke play doesn’t happen at third base, three less runs score.”

The play coach Doskow referred to occurred in bottom of the third inning with two outs and a runner on second. A soft hit off the bat of Adrian Cuesta snuck between the legs of third baseman Chadwell, who may have been distracted by the runner from second and a very loud Coral Park crowd.

“He makes that play 99 out of 100 times,” Doskow said.

The inning continued with the Rams knocking in three consecutive runs to cut the lead to 7-3 and chase Southridge starter Chris Sutton. Coral Park fell behind again 11-3 after a sloppy fourth inning that saw a double steal eventually lead to four more runs because of back-to-back errors and a hit-by-pitch. The Rams kept fighting, however, and even looked like they were mounting a comeback in the top of the seventh behind a few hard hits and couple of drawn walks.

“I liked that we didn’t give up,” Rams coach Adrian Casanova said. “We just have to limit our mistakes and capitalize on our opportunities. These guys have to understand, we’re always in the ball game, we just have to capitalize on situations. Don’t expect things to go your way, anticipate everything.”

The Rams open their season at state runner-up Hialeah on Feb. 15. Southridge opens its season hosting Doral Park Feb. 17 before opening district play at South Dade on Feb. 21.

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