St. Brendan Wins Slugfest To Advance to Regional Final

Like two heavyweights in a title fight, this was a contest where both teams refused to back down.

But in the end its the host St. Brendan Sabres who came out on top, defeating the LaSalle Royal Lions 13-10 in the Region 4A semifinal Tuesday in Miami.

St. Brendan (16-11) will host Monsignor Pace (21-6-1) in a 4A regional final at 4 p.m. Friday.

“Today was an old-fashioned slugfest,” St. Brendan Manager Joe Cubas said. “Last week I said to play them we had to bring our ‘A’ game, and we certainly had to do that today.”

In a game that saw three lead changes, both teams figuratively traded punches throughout the day.

The Sabres received a huge boost from Senior Miguel Ceballos. The shortstop finished 2 for-3 and smashed two game changing home runs in the first and fifth inning to lift the Sabres.

“It’s a lot of excitement early on the game and [we] got to keep the fight throughout the entire game,” Ceballos said.

It was a game that left the hundreds of fans in attendance on edge because neither team could hold on to a lead.

After the Lions (14-14) took a 3-2 lead going into the bottom of the second, the Sabres responded with five runs in the bottom of the second.

In the third inning, St. Brendan looked like they would cruise to victory after scoring two more runs to make it 9-3 heading into the fourth inning. However, LaSalle hung tough in the top of the fourth. The Lions rallied with two outs, scoring three runs to make it 9-6 heading into the bottom of the fourth.

After holding St. Brendan to one run in the bottom of the fourth, the Lions scored three more in the top of the fifth thanks to back-to-back RBI singles by seniors Elier Rodgriguez and Mike Avila to put the score at 10-9 heading into the bottom of the fifth.

However, the Sabres tacked on three more runs in the fifth thanks to a solo home run to right field by Ceballos and a two run shot to right by Dennis Rivadineira three at-bats later.

After allowing one run in the sixth to make it 13-10, the Sabres and their fans could breathe a collective sigh of relief in the top of the seventh inning when pitcher Alejandro Cabrera retired the side with a strikeout and two fly outs to center fielder Gerson Sotolongo to end the game.

“My hats off to St. Brendan they made more plays than we did,” LaSalle Manager Oscar Benitez said. The Lions graduate five starters from a team that won the District 4A-15 championship. “No one expected us to go as far as we did and we fought all the way to the last out, they really are warriors and I’m proud of them.”

For the Sabres, the win was an emotional one for a team that has dealt with adversity on and off the field.

Two months ago, the team lost assistant coach Bernie Soto to a battle with cancer. Soto’s son Gaby is a junior playing in the infield for the Sabres.

His passing was around the same time the team began 0-5 to start the season but they have bounced back strong and won their past seven games.

Coach Cubas had an emotional heart to heart moment in his post game speech with his team.

“It was very, very emotional,” he said. “I told them how much I loved them and how proud I was of them that they battled and they didn’t quit.”

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