Coral Gables Ousts District Foe Miami Springs In Extra Innings

The Coral Gables-Miami Springs game Thursday started off with a blast. Actually, it started off with two big blasts. Wait, three blasts.

In the end, Gables came away with a 4-1 win in eight innings in the District 8A-14 matchup.

First, for Gables, Alex Pinero smacked a ball high to right field and made it to third base. He was stranded there after a strong defensive showing by Springs pitcher David Plotkin, who picked off a runner at first then initiated an inning-ending double play.

A bigger blast came from Springs leadoff man Angel Diaz. He ripped a shot over the center fielder’s head and turned on the burners big time. Diaz blindingly touched all four bases, and before anybody realized, he had a rare inside-the-park home run.

The third blast came from Coral Gables’ Pablo Rubio, who destroyed a shot over the left-field fence.

“It’s actually funny,” Coral Gables coach Phil Wisser said. “Pablo wasn’t supposed to play today. He’s our pitcher. But we gave him a chance at the plate, and he delivered.”

The game was tied at 1 all the way until the eighth inning when Gables broke it open for the win. Until that fateful inning though, it was the defense and pitching that kept it tight.

Both starters pitched lights out. For Gables, David Plotkin went six innings, giving up the one run. For Springs, Nick Bello went seven and one-third innings, giving up only a run himself.

Defensively, there were five double plays in the game. Middle-infielders Eusebio and Montes of Gables turned a couple, and for Springs, it was the combo of Mendez and Gali holding it down up the middle.

Extra innings came and the pitchers gave way to the relief. Both walked off with no-decisions. Luke Sorensen came in for Gables, and he shut it down. Springs had a more difficult time as Gables got into some small ball. Three bunts, a walk and a single later, the Cavaliers were up three runs and wouldn’t look back.

The go-ahead run was scored by Rolando Eusebio as the sun was going down on the Golden Hawks. It was a hard-fought district battle, and coach Jason Morris had a simple, fatalistic view on the outcome.

“They laid down those nice bunts at the end,” Morris said. “We played great, but the baseball gods were simply not smiling on us today. It was a great district game, and we look forward to the next one.”

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