Improved Hitting Keys Westland Hialeah Victory

Westland Hialeah saw its hitting come around in a 10-6 win over Hialeah Gardens on Friday.

“We were sitting on good pitches,” Manager Jose Alvarez said. “They were hitting well, and we haven’t been doing that lately. Today we were on it.”

Westland scored seven runs early in the game to set the tone. Hialeah Gardens allowed the runs go unanswered and had a difficult time going against the freshman starter Gio Arriera, who had an impressive display of speed, control and consistency despite his age. Arriera seemed to have been keeping his poise on the mound and was inching to an early mercy-rule game, but the freshman ran into trouble in the fifth inning and gave in to three hits and two runs before Alvarez decided to relieve the young starter from his duty.

“It got to him a little bit,” Alvarez said about the Gladiators’ comeback in the fifth. “He lost his focus and it took us a little bit to regroup.”

Hialeah Garden’s vitalization started with two base hits off the bats of Peter Rodriguez and Gary Garcia, which positioned the runners on first and second until they made a double steal that put the Gladiators in scoring position. Hialeah scored and went to the top of the lineup where Pedro Ravelo drove in another two runners with his base hit.

The top of the inning shook the Wildcats and revitalized their lineup. The Wildcats would not let Hialeah Garden get too excited, after they came in to score another three runs to par with Westland’s runs in the inning. This gave the Wildcats a steeper advantage in the game, leading 10-3.

The runs where more due to Hialeah Gardens’ defensive errors. After committing an error on first with the first Westland batter, starting pitcher Robert Ledesma allowed another hit and balked with only one out in the inning, letting the Wildcats score another two runs. This is when manager Tino Burgos decided to rest Ledesma and take out left-handed pitcher Max Joseph, who got the next two batters out.

Although the Hialeah Garden still managed to put another three runs in the sixth inning, they couldn’t catch up with Westland, which maintained its lead.

“We’re ready to go out next week and start practice with high expectations, ready to play and win again,” Westland catcher Luis Corrales said.

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