Garabedian’s Grand Slam Sparks Columbus To 8A-15 Title

The game was delayed 50 minutes in the sixth inning due to lightning, but it was Christian Garabedian who provided the biggest spark of the night.

After a shaky first half inning, Columbus needed an early wake-up call. Garabedian did just that in the form of a grand slam. Explorers pitchers Anthony Martinez and Christopher Coipel took care of the rest with a three-hitter as top-seed Columbus captured the 8A-15 championship game, 7-3, against No. 2 Coral Gables on Friday night at Southwest High School.

Both teams advance to the Class 8A regional quarterfinals next week. Columbus (22-5) will host South Dade, and Coral Gables (18-8) will visit Killian. Only one of those teams will make it past the regional semifinals.

“It’s such a crap shoot,” said Columbus Manager Joe Weber. “You want to be playing well, and we’re playing pretty good ball. We’re playing as good as anybody, but all four teams that are left, they’re all very good.”

Columbus, which beat Coral Gables for the third time this year, shrugged off a rocky start that included two throwing errors that created a 2-0 deficit in the first inning.

“We didn’t panic,” Coipel said.

Indeed. The deficit was quickly erased thanks to Garabedian. A pair of walks and a single by Nelson Mompierre in the bottom of the first set the stage for Garabedian, a left-handed batter who drilled his fourth home run of the season off starter Tyler Santana. The ball landed well past the right field fence.

The grand slam deflated Coral Gables, which showed a ton of emotion in the top of the inning when Raymond Gonzalez led off the game with an opposite-field double and Franky Montesino followed with a single. Although the Cavaliers scored two runs, their bats were then held silent all the way until the seventh when pinch hitter Anthony Valdes notched a double.

“We came out with a lot of intensity,” said Coral Gables Manager Phillip Wisser. “They’re a good team. Columbus has had a great program for the last several years. They had our number this year. We knew two runs wasn’t going to do it for us.”

After watching the two unearned runs cross the plate in the first, Martinez bounced back in the second by striking out the side in order on just nine pitches. But in the third, after Martinez plunked two batters and walked another, Coipel was brought in to settle things down. One run scored, but Coipel got out of the jam without further damage. He was very sharp in four-and two-third innings of one-hit ball with six strikeouts, one walk and no runs.

“He had an unbelievable game,” Weber said.

Coral Gables closed to within 5-3 in the third, but Columbus answered with a run in the fourth and fifth inning.

Danny Diaz and Ryan Alvarez each had RBI singles for Columbus, whose offense featured a balanced attack with seven hits from seven different players. Alvarez, who also drew two walks, drove in Gil Torres, who reached on a perfect bunt in the fourth.

Coral Gables’ Elih Marrero scored one run, marking the 21st game this season that he has scored. Defensively, Cavaliers’ center fielder German Reyes made a sliding catch and nearly snagged another.

“We have a good club,” Wisser said. “We just have to stay with our game plan and not lose focus. We have to keep fighting. We know we’re going to face a very good Killian team. I’m assuming we’re going to face Ryan Granda. He shut us down the first time. We’ll try to work and get prepared for that if that’s who we’re going to face. As long as we do what we’re capable of doing, I think we can compete and give them a good ball game and see what we can do to maybe pull off an upset.”

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