Westminister Downs Mater Lakes To Move On

The regional quarterfinals never disappoint with the level of baseball that can be played in high school. Even when it seems like a total blowout for the other team, there is still a fire that glows inside to fuel the game and bring what is expected.

Mater Lakes Academy hosted Westminister Christian in Florida Memorial University today in a game that did not stop the action until the very end regardless of Westminister’s overwhelming 11-6 victory.

“Their starting pitcher did a hell of a job,” Mater Lakes Manager Cesar Temes said. “He kept us off balance the whole game. We just didn’t get that clutch hit in the beginning. We had our chances, and we didn’t do it, and they basically executed before we did.”

The Warriors advance to a regional semifinal Tuesday against the winner of today’s Dade Christian-Florida Christian game.

Mater lost many chances to score, leaving five guys on base without scoring, but the Bears did not give up when the odds were against them. In the seventh inning, after Westminister was up by a staggering 10 runs, something happened that is not often seen in a baseball game. The Bears dug deep in the dirt and began to comeback from their 10 point dilemma, scoring five runs in one inning and leaving everyone jaw-opened from the last minute runs.

Yet, the tenacious effort did not pay off for the Bears in the game. The lead was too high for them to catch up before the Warriors rectified their errors on the field and put out the last three outs of the game.

“I think now in playoff time, there’s no looking back,” Westminster Manager Emil Castellanos said. “Now that there’s no elimination games you got to go with what you got and this is a good club. And we had a bad taste in our mouth from last year knowing this is what we lost, since last year we ended our season here.”

The Warriors redeemed themselves from last year’s elimination, but the game could have gone both ways until the fourth. The game went scoreless for the first three innings and the tension began to rise on the field. But it was Westminister’s best player, John Ruiz, who sparked things up and started the relentless scoring that would come from his line drive single. Ruiz would have continued to join the Warriors in their inexorable march to victory, but unfortunately the fifth inning ended his time on the field due to an ankle injury from sliding to third.

“When you lose your best player, it’s tough to replace your guy,” Castellanos said. “But that’s why its called a team. It’s a team game and that’s what you practice for. But he bounced back he’s a trooper.”

Ruiz was not able to play for the rest of the game and was carried away at the end of the game to the hospital to evaluate the extent of his injury, but his coaches said that he will be fine and that he just rolled the inside of his ankle.

But even without Westminister’s top player, the team executed and delivered just as good. After their two runs in the fourth that bought them their lead, they came back with another five runs in the fifth to let the Bears know that it wasn’t just luck.

“We came through with the hits and we just didn’t look back,” said John Gonzalez, who started for the Warriors and was untouched until the bottom of the fifth. “We’re going to bring a high energy going into Tuesday’s [semi-finals] game. It doesn’t matter who we play, but we’re going to go in like how we did today and just keep on going.”

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