Mater Academy Walks Off 1-0 In 12-Inning Marathon

The way the pitchers were dealing on Friday night, you would have sworn the ball was invisible.

Those in attendance at Westland Gardens Park in Hialeah Gardens Friday evening witnessed a rare spectacle as two ace pitchers both pitched into extra innings in an epic district clash.

Such mastery made it tragic that both would not be able to earn a victory, and in the end neither would even factor into the decision.

In the final contest of the marathon of games that is District 6A-16, it was only fitting that the rematch of its top two seeds waged into a 12-inning battle of attrition.

Host Mater Academy walked off with the hard-earned 1-0 victory over Belen Jesuit, as Angel Ortiz lined an RBI single to score Amado Chirinos in the bottom of the 12th.

“This was the longest game I’ve ever coached in my 19 years,” Mater Coach Alphonso Otero said. “Even though we made a couple of mistakes that might have cost us, the team showed a lot of character. A win like this is very important down the stretch.”

The Lions (21-2) lock up the top seed in the district for the second season in a row, while going a perfect 14-0 in 6A-16 this year.

Leading off the bottom of the final frame, Chirinos reached on an error as he dropped down a bunt attempt and then raced up the baseline to watch as the throw drew the first baseman off the bag and just a moment behind on a backhand tag attempt.

JC Escarra followed with a single up the middle to put runners on the corners and the winning run just ninety feet from home.

Then up to the plate came Ortiz.

“I just thought to myself that if I hit it, I know we win,” Ortiz said. “I don’t know what it was, a fastball or a curveball, but I hit it. I looked up and was like ‘Thank you God’ and I knew it was going to land fair and that we had won the game.”

After stranding five runners with their limited chances, Ortiz was determined to come through for his team, and particularly for his pitchers.

“I know my pitchers were throwing great and I knew I had to pull through for them,” Ortiz said. “Nothing can compare to this. I’ve never been in this position and I thank my team, and I thank God that I have been given this chance. It’s the greatest feeling in the world and I don’t even know what to say.”

A contrite Jerry Albert could not help but carry mixed emotions after his team came up on the short end of such a close, tough game.

“This was a terrific high school game, and we hate losing,” the Wolverines manager said. “Our kids have been playing very well lately and we played well tonight. Both starters were terrific and their reliever was excellent.”

Although the reliever Chirinos actually earned the victory with three shutout innings and four strikeouts to back up their ace, it was starter Mike Mediavilla who set the tone.

The hulking lefty mixed up his speeds and locations and pounded the strike zone, as 79 of his 105 pitches found the zone. Working with great efficiency and command, Mediavilla mowed through the Wolverines (17-6) like a man possessed.

In the top of the first, Ryan Rodriguez-Mena drew the only walk issued by either team and Alec Acosta followed with a double to put both runners in scoring position and put immediate pressure on the Lions’ ace.

But Mediavilla escaped the jam with a strikeout and a foul popout, and he only allowed a single to Alex Cabrera over his next eight innings of work.

“In the beginning I was just trying to use my legs. I knew it was going to be a big game,” Mediavilla said. “Belen’s a good team and it took us a while to get there when we were at their place, so I knew I was going to go long. I came out in the third inning, my arm felt good and all the strikeouts kept coming and coming.”

The lefty punched out 15 batters in all, including an amazing stretch from the sixth to the ninth inning in which he struck out eight hitters in a row.

“It was the atmosphere; everybody’s adrenaline on my team had me pumped up,” Mediavilla admitted. “I know the defense and I know the team that I have backing me up. I have amazing hitting that comes through with two strikes. You can’t ask for anything better, choke and poke in the gap. I can’t ask for anything better than that from my team.”

Meanwhile, Jerry Albert and the Wolverines also could not have asked for anything better from their own ace, starter Danny Parets.

Parets matched Mediavilla seemingly pitch for pitch, tossing ten shutout innings while throwing 73 of his 102 pitches for strikes. The right-hander scattered four hits and recorded ten strikeouts, with no walks allowed.

“Both pitchers pitched well enough to win the game,” Albert lamented. “Danny was efficient, he was throwing strikes, and it’s hard to get better than that. His count was low, he just hit 100 pitches in the tenth inning, and we go by how our pitchers feel so his count was not even an issue. If it had been a playoff game we would have left him in there, if he wanted it, which he did. But we understand we’re two weeks out of the playoffs and we want our kids to be strong all the way through.”

Jonathan Gutierrez took the loss in relief to fall to 1-2, despite allowing just the one unearned run.

The Wolverines also made some nice defensive plays to keep the hard-hitting Lions at bay.

After Willie Abreu and Kevin Abraham both singled to threaten in the first inning, Belen recorded a perfect 6-4-3 double play to close the door. The team then sent Mater down in order in the second, highlighted by a nice running catch by the left fielder Christian Del Castillo.

Alex Cabrera also made a nice play to track down a shot off the bat of Abraham that ricocheted off of Parets and Cabrera tracked down to record the fielder’s choice out that pushed the game to extra innings.

“This year we’ve never been in a game like this, and our kids learned something from this,” Otero said of the Lions, who opened the year 14-0 and came into Friday’s contest on a five-game winning streak that included three straight shutouts. “It’s a great win, but when you win this game you win a lot more. We’re uphill already and this might get us over the top, mentally.”

Even though the team has set a school record by sweeping the district, the Lions remain grounded and focused on the larger challenges ahead.

“It’s a great achievement; I think that has never been done at the school,” Otero said. “It’s great for the kids, and great for the program. But ultimately, people in the county know what happened last year. We cruised through our district with only one loss, but HML upset us in the first round of the district playoffs. So our mindset is to win the next game and win the last game. We won’t overlook anybody. We’re going to play hard, no matter if it’s the third, fourth or fifth seed, we’ll play everybody tough.”

After the season they’ve had and the exhibition on Friday night, one thing that is clear is that the Lions will have plenty of strong pitching when they need it most.

The Wolverines (12-2 in 6A-16) will enter the district tournament as the second seed, with the chance to get another rematch with the Lions.

“We both have to win our first-round games; that’s the thing, we don’t take anything for granted,” Albert said. “We know every team is a tough opponent so right now we’ve got to just keep rolling and doing what we’re doing, because we’ve played well. If we both get out of the district semifinal and we play each other again, great. We’re not assuming that will happen.”

One thing that would be safe to assume is that we may not see another performance like Friday’s again for a long time.

“Ron Darling and John Franco had a game like that in college once,” Albert reminisced. “It was a playoff game and I think they both pitched like fourteen or fifteen innings. I think Darling won that game. They were both pitching beautiful too.”

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