Vinson, Almonte Combine On No-Hitter As Columbus Edges Hialeah 1-0 In 9 Innings

Heading into Friday’s 8A regional final, everyone expected a battle between two of the top pitchers in Miami-Dade County, and they did not disappoint. Columbus’ Mike Vinson and Hialeah’s Nestor Cortes put on a show that everyone will remember. Both starters went deep into the game and pitched into extra innings, but it was Columbus that was able to manufacture a run in the bottom of the ninth inning to edge out the 1-0 victory to advance to the FHSAA state tournament next weekend in Port St. Lucie.

After pitching the final inning in Columbus’ game Wednesday, Vinson came out strong and dominated again, allowing no hits in his eight innings of work against the Thoroughbreds. He and reliever Yency Almonte combined on the no-hitter.

“Another night where Vinson didn’t get a win but he pitched a gem,” Columbus head coach Joe Weber said. “It was a great battle. Their pitcher (Cortes) was so tough, and I think between this game and the GMAC game, it took us 16 innings to score a run against him.”

Vinson struck out nine hitters and only allowed one baserunner until the seventh inning. The lone baserunner came in the first inning after a passed ball on a strikeout.

Hialeah’s Cortes was resilient on the mound as well. Cortes pitched all nine innings for his team and continued to stay strong and hit his spots late in the game. He allowed just five hits to Columbus throughout the night and really kept guys off-balance.

With hits so hard to come by with two great pitching performances, both teams elected to play small ball. Every time either team was able to get a man on base with no outs, the coaches elected to lay down a sacrifice bunt to better their chances at getting a run across.

“It seemed the last time we played, the first team to score a run was going to win, and things set up very similar today,” Weber said. “We got three lead off hitters get on, so we had six guys get opportunities to drive in a run, but he (Cortes) seemed to just get tougher as the game went on.”

Things began to get tense in the seventh inning. Cody Fulton led off the inning by drawing a walk and was then bunted over by Alian Silva. Then Jeffrey Izquierdo was hit-by-pitch. After a wild pitch that allowed for the runners to advance to second and third with one out, Weber elected to intentionally walk Jorge Rey in order to play for the double play. Lian Roque then came up and hit a dribbler to Vinson, who had trouble with the ball but gathered to throw a strike home to get the lead runner. Vinson forced another ground ball to the shortstop to get out of the jam.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Columbus had its fourth, fifth and sixth batters up, and Cortes was able to strike out all three looking to send the game into extra innings.

Another one of Columbus’ hard throwing pitchers, Almonte, came in to pitch in the ninth after Vinson had gotten high in his pitch count. Almonte walked the first batter but then got in his grove to get the following three batters quickly.

Cortes jogged back out to the mound to start the bottom of the ninth. He forced a quick ground ball to the second baseman, who was unable to field it cleanly and allowed Daniel Lynch to reach first safely. Then designated hitter Nick Reyes was finally able to drive a pitch to left field for a double off the wall to get runners on second and third with one out. Hialeah intentionally walked the next hitter to load the bases to get a force out at home or get a double play. However, Columbus catcher Cris Perez had a different idea as he sent a deep fly ball to center field that allowed for Lynch to score easily from third to end the game as the Columbus bench and bleachers exploded with cheers.

“All I did was hit a fly ball. I struck out twice but was still able to contribute,” Perez added. “Its just a great feeling to take my team to states, and its not just me, but the entire team putting a lot of work in all year and hopefully we can come back with the trophy next weekend.”

The Hialeah players were fighting for a chance to get back to the state tournament, which it went to last season, but came up just short this season.

“Its unfortunate we didn’t come out on top, but I told all the guys to keep their head up because every one of these guys on our team are champions,” Hialeah head coach Shane Fulton said. “There’s just something about these kids that they refuse to lose and give their blood, sweat and tears to win, and we will be back next year looking to win the state title.”

Columbus will now make plans to go up to Port St. Lucie next Saturday to play Palm Beach Gardens in the state semifinal game. It will be a very special day for these seniors as Saturday is also graduation day for Columbus.

“I couldn’t end my senior year any better,” Vinson said. “This is what I have been thinking about every day for a year and now to be living it is awesome.”

The Explorers are not done just yet. Just after the victory, players kept saying, “We’re not done, two more games.” The team will take a couple days off to enjoy the victory, but will get right back to work and begin to get ready for its next opponent.

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