Hot Start Helps Miami Springs Roll Past Miami High

Golden Hawks Manager Willie Vasquez decided to use a different strategy to get his team ready for the final stretch of the regular season.

Realizing his team hasn’t responded well to aggressive coaching, Vazquez decided to loosen up and let his players just play the game.

“I pulled back a little bit,” Vazquez said. “Sometimes we coach too much, and these guys don’t really respond well when we do that, so we decided to just let them play their own game. I think we played well and they played loose for a change.”

The strategy has paid off so far as Miami Springs (10-9, 6-4) used a four-run first inning to cruise past the Miami High Stingarees 11-1 in five innings at Curtis Park in Miami on Tuesday.

The visiting Golden Hawks got their offense going early against the Stingarees. With one out in the top of the first, right fielder Madison Kreitner drew a bases-loaded walk to bring home Pedro Riveria for the game’s first run.

Domingo Cedano followed suit with another walk to bring home Ronald Acosta. Designated hitter Scottie Lopez topped it off with a two-run double to left field to put the Golden Hawks up 4-0, before Miami High pitcher Daniel Rodriguez retired the next two batters to end the top of the first.

Miami Springs started left-hander Alex Iruela on the mound. The sophomore did not allow any hits in the first two innings before he had some trouble in the bottom of the third.

After Iruela struck out first baseman Matthew Rodriguez, Stingarees center fielder Dayron Mallea drew a walk. The next batter, right fielder Abraham Rivas, moved Mallea to second with a sacrifice bunt.

Second baseman Larry Bravo delivered on the next at-bat with a blooper to right that fell right under a diving Madison Kreitner’s glove to score Mallea from second to put the score at 4-1.

Iruela then struck out Gabriel Marin to end the inning.

After Miami Springs added one more run in the top of the fourth, Vazquez put right-hander Nyait Napoles on the mound when Iruela complained of some soreness in his pitching shoulder.

“He was a little sore today from lifting weights earlier in the day, but he’ll be good to go for us down the stretch,” Vazquez said.

Despite the pitching change, Miami Springs stayed focused at the plate with a six-run fifth inning.

With Cedano on second after an error and a stolen base, and one out, second baseman Gabriel Gali belted a single up the middle to score Cedano to put the score at 6-1. The next batter hit a grounder to the shortstop who flipped the ball to second for the second out of the inning.

But Miami Springs then connected on five consecutive hits with two outs.

Pedro Riveria started the rally with a single to left field to put runners on first and second. The next batter Ronald Acosta then lined an RBI single to right-center. Next, Juan Kirk lined a pitch up the middle for another RBI single. First baseman Emmanuel Alfaro followed suit with another RBI single to center field to make it 9-1 Miami Springs.

Kreitner delivered the final blow with a deep line drive to left field for a two-run triple to put the Golden Hawks up 11-1 before a Miami High forced a groundout to end the inning.

In the bottom of the fifth, Napoles ran into trouble after an error and two walks loaded the bases, but the game was sealed when he forced a pop-out to third base to end it.

For Miami Springs, Riveria finished 2-for-3 with three runs and a stolen base. Acosta finished 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI, while Lopez ended the game 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a double.

“The coaches just tell us to stay loose and play the game,” Acosta said. “We just came out and tried to have fun out there.”

Tuesday’s game was the Golden Hawks’ last in the district before the playoffs. Miami Springs is tied with Goleman for third place in District 8A-14 at 6-4, but they have a tough non-district battle against HSBN number 10 Hialeah on Thursday.

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