American Holds Off Hialeah Rally To Win District Crown

Holding an eight-run lead over Hialeah with two innings left to play, the American Patriots looked ready to coast to another district championship.

In the words of football commentator Lee Corso, “Not so fast my friend.”

After jumping out to an 8-0 lead early on, the Patriots had to tame a frenetic six-run Hialeah rally in the top of the sixth, holding on to beat the Thoroughbreds 9-7 to win the 8A-13 championship at Westland Gardens Park in Hialeah.

“I thought it was going to be easy for us, but they made it tough,” a relieved Patriots Manager Kendrick Gutierrez said.

Fast forward to the top of the sixth inning with no one on base and no outs. Trailing 9-1 and facing American’s Ronnie Williams, designated hitter Henry Perez leads off with a single to left center to put a runner on first. The next batter, Gilbert Maldonado, hit a fly ball out to right field at American’s Matt Ruiz, who entered the game an inning earlier after Kevin Peraza tweaked his ankle.

The next batter Alian Silva, who hit the triple on the play Peraza was injured, hits another fly ball to the outfield, putting runners on first and second and increasing the pressure on the Patriots (18-8).

Robert Carmona came up to bat and connected on a double to the gap in center field, allowing both runs to score for the Thoroughbreds (18-7).

With Carmona standing on second, Alex Miret drew a walk off Williams to put runners on first and second.

Shortly after, Gutierrez decided to relieve Williams in favor of Andy Figueroa. The first batter he faced, Hialeah star Nestor Cortes, hit a single to the gap in right to set the table for Mauricio Cajuso.

With the bases loaded, Cajuso hit a hard ground ball in the hole that went for an error. Carmona, Miret, and Cortes would all score on the play, and as the Cajuso slid into third base the throw to the cutoff man sailed high all the way into the T-Breds’ dugout, allowing Cajuso to score and breathe new life into Hialeah’s chances.

Now trailing only 9-7 the T-Breds looked to take control with momentum on their side.

But Figueroa stopped the bleeding by forcing Kevin Betancourt to fly out to right and then getting Jonathan Diaz to ground out at second to end inning.

“I told those guys that Hialeah was going to fight back,” Gutierrez said. “They’re a good team and they’re not going to just lay down and give up.”

In the bottom of the sixth relief pitcher Adan Gutierrez looked to carry the momentum over on the mound. Facing American’s Alex Gonzalez, Gutierrez showed his frustration on the mound when the home plate umpire made a close call that he though should have been a strike. The umpire walked from behind the plate to issue Gutierrez a warning and Manager Jonathan Hernandez walked to the mound to sort things out with his pitcher.

After cooler heads prevailed, Gutierrez went into a zone, striking out Gonzalez in consecutive pitches before also retiring Steven Dipuglia.

After walking catcher Steven Alvarez, Gutierrez stepped off the mound and fired as Alvarez was attempting to steal second, forcing an out to end the inning.

With one more chance to win the game in the seventh inning, Hialeah looked poised to make another run as fans in attendance were wired to the game.

With Figueroa still on the mound, he forced the first hitter Perez to ground out to third base for the first out.

The next batter Maldonado hit a soft line drive to second, but a diving Dipuglia couldn’t hold on to the ball as he hit the ground, allowing the runner to reach first.

This would bring Silva back to the plate, looking to make more magic after scoring runs in his last two at-bats. After fouling off a handful of pitches and raising a full count, Figueroa would get the last laugh as he struck out Silva for the second out.

With two outs, Figueroa got two strikes against Carmona, one pitch away from sealing the game. But on a swing and miss strike three, the ball slipped by the catcher’s glove deep into the backstop and Carmona raced to first before the catcher could recover the ball.

With the tying run on first and the winning run at the plate, Alex Miret had a chance to change the game for Hialeah with one swing. But he connected on a pitch right to the pitcher who fumbled the ball before firing a dart to first that beat Miret by a step.

As the umpire pumped his fist for the third out, American’s players raced from the dugout to celebrate their roller-coaster victory.

“Traumatizing” was the word Gutierrez used to describe the last two innings of the game. Gutierrez finished 3-for-3 with three RBIs and an inside-the-park home run.

Despite the final score Hialeah Manager Jonathan Hernandez liked the way his team stayed focused.

“I’m proud of the way my team handled the adversity,” Hernandez said. “We were down eight or nine runs and any other team would have packed it in, but these guys stuck together and chipped away. It’s obviously not the outcome we wanted but I’ll take it.”

Both teams will advance to the regional semifinals next week. They will match-up against the Coral Gables Cavaliers and the Goleman Gators, the top teams from District 8A-14. American will face the loser of that game, while Hialeah will face the winner.

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