Mater Academy Wins First State Title In School History

Championship Game Photo Gallery

Turn the lights off when you’re done celebrating, Mater Academy.

In the final game of the FHSAA state tournament, Mater Academy made school history. Playing in the title game for the first time, the Lions put in an epic performance to squeeze out a tough 1-0 victory over Winter Haven to claim the Class 6A state crown.

Angel Ortiz tallied the lone run of the contest in the bottom of the first. The first baseman reached on a fielder’s choice and then came home on an outfield error on a shot to the warning track off the bat of Daniel Reyes.

The win capped a historic playoff run to close out a season that had more than its share of struggles and challenges along the way. But through every trial the Lions (20-8) endured, the team never wavered in its drive to make this their season to win it all. That heart and determination paid off, and now they are champions.

“I’m proud to bring the state championship back to our school,” said Mater Manager Mike DiRosa. “It’s the first team state championship for the school. I think it’s the first time in history that there are four state champions from Miami in baseball, and I think that is pretty cool.”

After South Dade, American and Brito all came and conquered their respective brackets to claim state titles this postseason, the Lions were able to finish things off to set a state record for Miami-Dade County. Miami-Dade took home half of the state championships possible, and all four teams that advanced to the state tournament at jetBlue Park in Fort Myers all came home with the championship trophy.

“It’s just Miami ball,” said Lions captain Mike Mediavilla. “Everybody goes out and it is great competition down there. Everybody goes out playing with everything they’ve got every game, and I guess it pays off over here. They don’t know who they are facing and just the adrenalin gets to them. The Miami comes at them, and the screaming, and it just gets intense for them.”

One day after Mediavilla went the distance to lead the club to the title game, it was right-hander Kevin Fuentes who matched that effort. Fuentes tossed the complete-game shutout to stymie the Blue Devils (27-6), throwing 59 of his 93 total pitches for strikes and pounding the zone to attack the opposing batters. Even with a slim lead the entire way, Fuentes never showed any sign of feeling pressure at how close things were.

“We’ve been in this scenario before,” said Fuentes. “We had one run only when we played Belen and luckily we were able to come through. I grew up with all these guys, playing with them, and it’s just a blessing to call them my teammates.”

The hurler faced the minimum until allowing his only hit all night, which did not come until the fifth inning when Tobias Myers blooped a single into shallow center field. Fuentes relied more on his fastball then he typically prefers, but it was the pitch that would not fail him on this night.

“My curveball is usually my best pitch, and unfortunately this season I haven’t really had it,” Fuentes said. “But we get through games and we win and that’s all that matters. My fastball was on, but I felt a little rusty. Towards the third, fourth inning I noticed my mechanics; I was flying open. So I tried staying a little closed and it just started clicking for me.”

Fuentes has been lights out for his team this postseason, throwing 20 consecutive shutout innings dating back to the team’s district championship victory over Belen Jesuit. With a guy like that on the mound, the players on the field with him were ready to give everything they had to do their part.

“Every single guy came out there today and left their hearts out on the field and gave 100% effort,” said Joey Jimenez. “Their attitude was on point and everybody was pulling for each other and we became as more than just a team, but as a family. It is just unbelievable. Kevin Fuentes did a helluva job out there; he just killed it and he was awesome.”

As crucial as Fuentes’ performance was on the mound, it was the defense that came through to be the biggest differential in the contest. A day after the club had their fair share of struggles on the defensive side of things; Thursday night it was a completely different beast. The players took it upon themselves to correct the mistakes from a day earlier, and the coaches never even had to address that factor with them.

“Honestly, we didn’t do anything different in our game and we didn’t even position our guys any different then we normally do,” DiRosa said. “We just told our guys to play hard all the way through seven innings; every inning is a fight and it’s a seven-inning battle. If you make an error, forget about it. Relax, come back and get ready for the next play.”

The defense was ready to make the plays; that much was clear. After Fuentes hit Luis Morales with a pitch leading off the top of the second, and bounced back with a strikeout, the Lions got a 6-4-3 double play to end that threat. Two frames later third baseman Lazaro Rodriguez made an incredible diving catch on a foul pop along the left sideline, sprinting after the ball and laying out to snare it in his glove as he smacked to the ground.

As impressive as that catch was, it was not even Lazaro’s best play of the night. The one that followed came during the most critical point of the contest, a moment that could have turned the entire tide and changed the outcome altogether. It was a play that will go down in history with the Mater Academy baseball team, and unquestionably the most amazing play delivered during the entire state tournament this season.

Brant Howell drew a leadoff walk on a full-count pitch in the sixth, advanced to second on a balk call and then moved to third on a sacrifice bunt from Brice Giles. With the infield defense drawn in, Rugi Odor popped the ball drifting into shallow left field. Lazaro sprinted after the ball like a predator tracking its prey, stretching out and making the catch even as his momentum carried him backwards onto the ground. Howell broke for home but Lazaro gunned the ball to the plate even while still only in a sitting position and with his momentum still carrying him backwards. The throw was absolutely perfect, bouncing in to the catcher Jimenez a step or two ahead of Howell, allowing Jimenez to apply the tag and complete the improbable 5-2 double play.

“Everything I did was with energy and I knew that play at home was just emotion,” Lazaro said. “It was a play that was going to take us home. I did everything I had to put into that ball and every play I had was impressive. This team is like a family this year. That’s the difference from this year to last year, and we just give everything we’ve got. That’s the difference in how we became champions. We’re just all a big family.”

This magnificent moment uplifted the entire Mater squad, and especially Fuentes on the mound. He had the best view of anyone for a play none of them will ever forget. Fuentes also pointed out that Lazaro was originally slated to be the team’s closer this season, but that he fought and earned his spot at third base and proved that he was the man to anchor the hot spot on the defense.

“Lazaro, he is great; he is the best,” said Fuentes. “He showed us all that he deserved to be there and that’s his position and nobody can take that away from him. We also had Deyvid Silva making it look easy and it’s just crazy.”

In such a tight game, DiRosa admitted that he made one minor adjustment with his hitters. Blue Devils starter Kevin Wolf was very tough against the Lions’ vaunted lineup. Wolf went the entire way and allowed only three hits throughout, and DiRosa acknowledged that he was tough and that the left-hander battled against them the entire time. Therefore the coaches told the Lions’ batters to take a lot of pitches.

“The guy was erratic early on in the game, so we told our guys to take a lot of pitches and try to get in favorable counts so that they can hit the pitch they can hit,” said DiRosa. “That’s the only thing that we did different then really the whole year. Most of the time we just let our guys free swing and go about it that way. This time we sat there and made them take a couple of pitches and try to get them into good counts, try to get balls that were really good to hit.”

DiRosa and the coaches had a game plan that followed the same norm that had gotten them this far. The whole year they have talked about putting constant pressure on the opposition, and typically before each game DiRosa would go talk to his players to remind them of this approach. Thursday night he didn’t even need to do that.

“Normally I go out there and I talk to the team and try to fire them up and show them how to focus and everything. But the team did it all on their own this time,” DiRosa said. “The one thing I kept hearing from them was, ‘we need to put constant pressure on them, and no matter what it is, we are running everything out’. We had constant pressure on them from the start to the finish and they put it on their backs and were the ones that did it.”

Even despite an infield error with one out remaining, the Lions did not falter one bit. Fuentes shook everything off and recorded his fourth and final strikeout of the contest to end the game and set off the celebration.

After putting together several strong seasons the past few years, the team had been unable to muster a playoff run to take it this far before. Finally the Lions are champions, and it is a feeling they could hardly even describe.

“Honestly, all of these seasons were going by and we were just fighting and never making it past the first round of regionals or districts,” said Mediavilla. “It was just having a team with a lot of heart and knowing that there was a lot of pressure on them, but they didn’t play with any pressure. They went into every game knowing they were down two runs, knowing that there was one goal in mind. I think the three years I’ve been here this is the most core group we’ve had bond together, stay together and fight together; to have one goal in mind and stick to it no matter what, even through the ups and downs we’ve had.”

Finally the team made it all the way to the state Final Four, and once it got there it took care of business the same way every other Miami club did this season. The Lions are the champions of Class 6A, and a team that came together like none before it has accomplished something they all will remember for the rest of their lives.

“It’s incredible right now,” said senior Josh Mendez. “Through all that happened this season, from losing our coach at the beginning of the year and now to win it all is an unbelievable feeling. We’re just going to celebrate and have fun with it; there is nothing to do.”

Turn the lights off when you’re done celebrating Mater, and turn the lights off when you’re done celebrating, Miami-Dade.

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