Mater Academy Advances To State Final Four

In the regional finals, you could only expect the teams to leave it all on the field. On Tuesday night at Flamingo Park in Pembroke Pines in front of hundreds of fans, Mater Academy and Pembroke Pines Charter did just that.

In the top of the sixth, Mater Academy engineered a comeback that ultimately punched their ticket to the final four beating Pines Charter 6-4. Angel Ortiz capped the dramatic comeback when he singled to left to drive in the tying and winning runs.

Kevin Fuentes, who entered in the fifth, then retired six of the final seven batters to send the Lions (18-8) to the first state semifinal in school history.

The Lions celebrated victory with Gatorade showers and mob pits as they prepare to represent Class 6A in a state semifinal held at jetBlue Park in Fort Myers. Mater will face Creekside on Wednesday, May 21st.

“Words cant express how happy I am for these kids,” said Lions Manager Michael DiRosa. “They worked their butt off all year. We had our ups and downs where we played great at times and went through a span where we didn’t play well at all. Throughout the season we had a roller coaster of emotions and that’s kind of how it was tonight. Words cant describe the feeling right now.”

Pines Charter jumped out to an early led after a walk and two base hits in the first. In the home half of the second, the bottom of the order manufactured two-runs to give the Jaguars a 3-0 lead. Capitalizing on a walk, the Jaguars extended their lead in the fourth to four. Fuentes then shut down the offense of Pines Charter and held them scoreless for the rest of the game.

Fuentes’ performance paved the way for the late rally.

After a leadoff walk in the top of the sixth, Danny Reyes doubled to left center. Lazaro Rodriguez followed with an RBI single and moved to second on a passed ball that scored Reyes for the second run of the inning.

“Its a big win for us. Its somewhere we have never been before as a team, so we’re excited to go to states,” said Reyes. “We started off a little low on energy. But once we got some guys on base we picked it up. We had big key hits in the sixth inning. The main thing is to believe in ourselves and we can do anything. We didn’t have that in the beginning of the year and now we do.”

Derek Garcia, who started for the Jaguars, picked-off Rodriguez from second base. then struck out the next batter. Garcia was able to get out of jam after jam throughout the night. With two outs in the sixth, Garcia’s pitch count caught up to him after he hit Rodriguez with a pitch.

Hoping to preserve the now two-run lead, Jaguars’ Manager Carlos Iglesias went to the bullpen. Alternating hit by pitch and base on balls, the Lions cut the deficit to one-run and had the bases loaded. After Ortiz put Mater on top, the Lions added another run and took a two-run edge with only six outs remaining.

Early in the game the Lions started to peel layers off of Garcia, but were unable to push across any runs. The Jaguar’s defense backed up Garcia, turning two double plays in the third and fourth innings.

“Derek pitched outstanding. He was our horse all year long. He did his job and unfortunately it didn’t fall our way tonight,” said Iglesias. “I am very happy how he pitched tonight and all year. He has made tremendous progress since the beginning of the year and I am happy about that. Just the thought alone is a huge attribute to him and our pitching coach for progressing all year long.”

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