Brito Returns to State Tourney With Win Over Zion

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It took longer than they would have liked.

For a team as rich with a tradition of excellence as the Miami Brito program, it has been too long since they last played for a state championship. While the Panthers have won the ninth-most playoff games in Florida history, including five titles, the last time they made it to the state tournament was 2011.

On Tuesday afternoon, they made their latest bid to return to prominence by traveling to Zion Lutheran to take on the Lions for the regional title and the trip to Fort Meyers that comes with it. As if they had not already waited long enough, the normal seven innings were not enough to decide the victor. Finally, in the top of the eleventh, the Panthers produced six runs to come out on top by a final of 10-4 and end their three-year state finals drought.

The Panthers will face Trinity Christian Deltona on Monday in a 2A state semifinal at jetBlue Park.

In the eleventh inning, Brito finally broke through the deadlock by batting around the order and scoring six runs. Kevin Jimenez led off with his first base hit of the night and, after he was bunted to second base, the Lions opted to intentionally walk Marco Bolano. Savian Fernandez then knocked a single into right field to drive them both in.

“I was struggling throughout the game so I just wanted to come back and give my team a chance,” said Fernandez, who had been hit-less through his previous five at-bats in the game. “Coach told me to hit it to right field and I did exactly that.”

While Brito may have had tradition and history on its side, it also has a line-up chock full of batters hitting over .400. For the most part, Lions starter Blayne Baker did a good job of silencing those big bats. In five innings of work, he gave up four runs, only the first of which was earned, on four hits.

Brito starter Marco Bolano had a fine outing himself, limiting an equally dangerous Zion line-up to just two hits and one unearned run while pitching five innings.

That run came in the bottom of the first inning and was almost a given once Lions leadoff man Jouseph Renovales not only reached, but advanced to second on an outfield error. The speedy Renovales led Broward county in runs scored and stolen bases throughout the regular season, so once he got on it seemed more a matter of when he would score rather than if. Sure enough, after he was bunted to third, a sacrifice fly by Jose Rodriguez brought him home and gave Zion the early lead.

It did not take Brito long to strike back. The Panthers touched Baker for three consecutive base hits to start the second inning. Then, with one out, Christian Alvarez drew a four-pitch, bases-loaded walk to even things out at one run apiece.

The Panthers (19-8) took control of the game by scoring three unearned runs in the fourth and fifth inning. Onelio Perdomo was hit by a pitch to start the fourth and moved to second on a bunt by Alvarez. An infield error that allowed a ground ball off the bat of Kevin Jimenez to roll lazily into the outfield brought Perdomo around to score, while Jimenez rounded to second. A ground rule double by Bolano knocked Jimenez in and expanded the lead to 3-1.

In the fifth, the power-hitting Mauricio Amaral was given the first of his three bases on balls and later came home on a sacrifice fly by Julio Gonzalez.

The Panthers re-gifted the three unearned runs in the bottom of the sixth to knot things back up at four. Suddenly the Lions (16-10-1) had new life and were right back in the contest.

First, Renovales reached on an error for the second time, prompting Brito Manager Pedro Guerra to turn to Gonzalez to spell his starter. Even the pitching change could not keep Renovales from reaching home again. A single by Manny Rojas moved Renovales to third, before a passed ball gave him the final 90 feet. Jordan Pacifico singled Rojas in before being moved into scoring position by an error, thus setting the stage for Ivan Ortiz’s heroic, game-tying RBI single two batters later.

Jose Rodriguez, who had come on in relief of Baker in the sixth, shut the Panthers down in the top of the seventh, and Gonzalez returned the favor in the bottom half to force extra innings.

Both relievers would go on to finish the game, a total of six innings apiece, with Gonzalez chalking up six strikeouts while eventually earning the win. His most dangerous predicament came in the bottom of the tenth when Renovales once again found himself at first after a one-out base hit. Gonzalez recorded two straight outs to strand the speedsters.

“I knew if I wasn’t doing it offensive-wise for my team, I had to come at it pitching-wise,” said Gonzalez. “There’s no way I wanted to lose this game. The past three years I’ve been at Brito, I’ve been losing at the regional finals and I can’t have that feeling again my senior year.”

After Fernandez’s heroics put Brito ahead, free passes to Amaral and Gonzales loaded the bases for Brito with two outs. Perdomo made the most of the situation, driving a ball into the left-center gap just beyond the reach of Zion’s diving left fielder for a bases clearing triple.

“It was a crazy game,” said Brito Assistant Coach David Fanshawe. “We kept on battling and fortunately we got key hits at the right times with runners on base. We just got a good string of hits at the end of the game that propelled us to win the game.”

2014 was Ray Ayala’s first at the helm of Zion Lutheran and he is proud of the results.

“I’m proud of my guys,” said Ayala. “My guys played very hard this season, they gave me everything they had. We got here, we fought with a team that’s been favorites all year. They’re a veteran squad and we extended them to extra innings. Honestly, I thought we were going to win that game.”

Brito’s third baseman admitted that maybe it did not need to be as close or as long as it was.

“We got the early lead and I think we took that for granted,” said Fernandez. “We kinda settled a little bit and they came back on us and it was back and forth. and the last inning was vital.”

On the other had, his teammate, Jimenez, never had a doubt about the outcome.

“I had 100 percent confidence in my team that we were going to make it. I never had my head down,” said Jimenez, who was responsible for a spectacular diving catch in the second inning. “I’m just happy my team could just make it to states right now. I guess it’s time to celebrate a little bit and get ready for states on Monday.”

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