Palenzuela’s Big Hit Propels Pace To 4A Title Game

State Semifinal Photo Gallery

Ask and you shall receive.

In a tie ball game late in Monday night’s Class 4A state semifinal against Trinity Catholic, Monsignor Pace’s David Palenzuela said a little prayer to God before stepping to the plate.

God was listening.

With the bases loaded and a full count on him, the senior first baseman connected on a shot deep to center field for the hit that propelled the Spartans to a 5-1 comeback victory in a thrilling clash played at jetBlue Park in Fort Myers.

“Before that at-bat I literally prayed to God that I would come up with a full count, bases loaded and two outs. He gave me an opportunity and I came through,” Palenzuela said. “Thank God for that. It’s the best feeling in the world, especially sliding into second and looking at the fans and everyone going crazy.”

Leading off the bottom of the sixth Austin Miro singled through the right side, and Leroy Garcia reached next after he dropped down a sacrifice bunt that resulted in a wild throw to second that put both runners on base. John Vicente laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners, and Bryan Bermudez drew a walk to fill the bases.

Following a strikeout that put the Celtics (20-10) an out away from escaping the jam, Palenzuela came to the plate.

With the count at 2-2 the left-handed slugger held off on a pitch so close that relief pitcher Sam Atwell had already begun to walk off the mound by the time it arrived. When the umpire called it for a ball, Palenzuela knew he had things right where he’d prayed for them to be.

“It was nerve-wracking, but it was a little bit low-off and I knew he would call it a ball because I knew where Blue’s zone was,” said Palenzuela. “It was a little off, so I took it. Luckily he called it a ball. In that full count, I felt pretty comfortable at the plate. I felt like I was going to come through. I know I was prepared for that.”

Palenzuela expected a fastball, and when he got it he got all of it to send the ball soaring deep into center field past the chasing fielder to send him sliding safely into second base with the bases-clearing shot that put the Spartans in the win column.

For Pace Manager Tom Duffin, the moment was almost doubly rewarding as it invoked memories of the team’s last state title in 2006.

“It goes back to his older brother who won a state championship with us,” said Duffin. “I’ve known the family for many years and it’s like a second family to me. David watched his older brother win it, so to watch this kid mature and finally get up there in the big time spot was nice to see that happen. It was really good for the team.”

Jonathan Reyes-Garcia replaced Palenzuela on the bases, before coming home to extend the lead to 5-1 when Brandon Gomez reached on an infield error.

The Spartans (23-6-1) find themselves knocking on the door in search of the school’s seventh state baseball title, with Tuesday night’s championship bout against undefeated Pensacola Catholic (26-0) presenting the final obstacle between them and glory.

“First off, my hat goes off to Trinity Catholic. What an outstanding club, and their pitcher threw a heck of a game,” Duffin said. “It was back and forth, and both teams were holding their own by making big defensive plays. It could have gone either way.”

Just one year since falling 1-0 in the semifinals, this group can finally lay the demons from that night to rest.

“We got over that hump we didn’t get over last year, and now we’ve got to go beat the number one team,” said catcher Anthony De La Cruz.

Before Palenzuela was able to play the hero’s role Monday night, many of his teammates took their turn warming up that spotlight to bring it to his big moment.

De La Cruz was the first of them.

Celtics left fielder Josh Gourley lined a one-out single through the legs of Pace starter Jonathan Hernandez in the top of the second, and Tim Pigeon and Steven Ramsey also singled to load the bases.

Tim Sada lined into a fielder’s choice that prompted a throw home that bounced short and left De La Cruz reaching low for the ball like a sitting duck in front of the diamond. Gourley collided with the catcher as he raced towards the plate, causing himself to be upended and flipped head-over-heels over De La Cruz.

The ball slid from De La Cruz’s glove, giving Gourley the time he needed to recover and step on home ahead of the tag for the Celtics lone run of the contest that put them up 1-0.

“That pretty much set the tone. That showed they were coming to play hard,” said De La Cruz. “He hit me and there was nothing I could do about it when the ball flew out.”

With the bases still loaded with only one out, the Spartans responded with the first of many big plays on the night. Tim Retamoza flew out to right field, and Andrew McCoy fired a perfect throw to the cutoff-man Palenzuela, who fired a laser home to De La Cruz as Pigeon came racing to the plate on the tag-up from third.

This time De La Cruz was ready for him, smothering the runner with the tag to complete the 9-3-2 double play that ended the inning.

“When you get it back-to-back like that, it feels like God is testing you to make up for it,” De La Cruz said. “That’s all I could think was hold onto the ball. I held onto the ball and I came through. We finished the inning with only one run scored on us.”

The big play ignited the Pace dugout and lifted up their starter Hernandez, who struggled with runners on in each of the first three innings.

“He’s a fiery guy and that’s why he’s behind the plate,” Hernandez said of his catcher. “He’s the toughest guy on the field and when that play happened it was just a charge of emotions.”

The Spartans also avoided early trouble by turning a 4-6-3 double play in the first, and recorded three consecutive putouts after the first two runners reached leading off the third.

Yet even in facing such pressure early on, Hernandez remained unshaken and poised on the mound. The lefty has made a living all season on doing exactly that, a factor which tends to settle down his teammates and give them the confidence that all will end in their favor.

“His composure and his way of staying calm during the game is what keeps him in games,” agreed De La Cruz. “He just fights through, and he gets better as the game goes on. It’s basically the confidence in him.”

Across the diamond the Spartans struggled early on against Celtics ace starting pitcher Jesse Lepore (6-5). The right-hander featured a very live fastball that ran all over the zone and caused trouble for the hitters.

Yet each time back through the lineup the Spartans made adjustments and began to get to the gutsy fire-baller.

“Coach Duffin brought us up and told us to think up the middle, and to think about going to opposite field,” said Palenzuela. “We just started making adjustments and putting the ball in play. Luckily we got baserunners and we came through.”

Palenzuela lined a leadoff single up the middle in the bottom of the fourth to initiate the Spartans comeback. After Brandon Gomez walked, De La Cruz dropped down a perfect bunt onto the infield grass to then race to first base ahead of the throw to load the bases.

Austin Miro worked a walk to push across Palenzuela and even things up at a run apiece. Miro went 2-for-2 with a stolen base.

“I just told the kids that this guy is a power-pitcher; he’s going to come at you and challenge you,” said Duffin. “He beat us early on, but we stayed in there and made adjustments to start making him come to us in our counts. He battled, but the breaks went against him. I felt we deserved to win because we got the big hit when we had to.”

After Trinity Catholic escaped the inning without allowing any further damage, it essentially became a three-inning ball game that started in the top of the fifth inning in fitting fashion with both teams ironically set back at the top of the order.

Nine outs apiece separated the two teams from glory or heartache.

“We had something to prove out here this year,” Hernandez said. “We wanted to win this game and it showed that we never gave up.”

The Celtics put a pair of runners on in the sixth, and after Hernandez recorded the second out to bring up the leadoff hitter Retamoza, Duffin elected to go to his bullpen for Luis Deville.

The right-hander got a swinging strikeout to erase the threat, before earning the victory to improve to 9-1 by recording a 1-2-3 seventh inning after the Spartans came back in the bottom of the sixth.

“My adrenaline was through the roof,” Deville admitted. “The first thing I thought was I have to hit my spots and throw as hard as I could to just get outs any way I could. That’s basically what I did.”

In fitting fashion, Deville recorded a swinging strikeout for the final out that set off the celebration as his teammates rushed to the mound to embrace the victory.

“To see everybody coming at me I was just so happy,” Deville said. “It feels great because we accomplished something. Last year we lost in the semifinals and this year all we were thinking about was to make it to the semifinals and win it to make the finals. That’s all we’ve been thinking about this whole season is prepare for states.”

The Spartans have won more state titles than any other team in this year’s state tournament, and on Tuesday they look to add another trophy to that case.

“It feels great tonight, but we’re not happy just that we got here,” said Hernandez. “We came here to win it.”

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