Mourning Wins The Shark Battle In Hollywood

It was a mascot homecoming on Tuesday, as the Alonzo and Tracy Mourning Sharks ventured north to take on the Sharks of Sheridan Hills Christian School in Hollywood. Like a great white, the Mourning Sharks struck fast and did not let up, cruising to a 24-2 victory.

Without the benefit of a hit, Mourning was able to push five runs across in the first inning, the first of many on the day being scored by leadoff hitter Jim Varona. Using patience at the plate, Mourning drew three walks and had three hit batsman. Mourning kept the bases full, and it was able to capitalize on two crucial defensive miscues by Sheridan Hills to jump out to a 5-0 lead.

“It is the first day of the season,” Mourning Manager Edwin Bonilla said. “Sometimes you never know what is going to happen.”

In the bottom of the first, Sheridan Hills was able to combine a walk by leadoff hitter Jason Ketcherside, a stolen base by Ketcherside, and an RBI single up the middle by catcher Sam Santos. The rally fizzled however, as Mourning starting pitcher Brandon Rios struck out two of the next three batters. Rios struck out the side in the first inning and six total in his three innings of work.

“Brandon Rios should be our ace. He got his work in today and we expect him to get better as we get ready for the district,” Bonilla said. “We had him working on his fastball, his curve, a little bit on the change up, and we are currently starting to work on a cutter.”

The different array of pitches seemed to work, as Rios gave up only one hit and one run in the three innings he pitched. Rios stifled the Sheridan Hills hitters with a perfect second and third inning.

In the top of the second Mourning continued pouring on the offense. Mourning added five more runs, before Sheridan Hills Manager Tim Talpesh brought Lazaro Beiro to stop the momentum. Beiro came in, challenging the Mourning offense by pounding the zone and throwing strikes. Mourning proved up to the challenge, as it produced five hits and five more runs to end the top of the second well ahead.

Mourning keep the scoring pressure on by pushing three runs across in the top of the third on three hits and adding another run in the top of the fourth on one base hit.

Mourning right-handed pitcher Marcel Guardarrama gave Bonilla an inning of no-run ball, as he worked out of a bases-loaded jam by getting a called third strike to end the fourth inning. The Sharks from the Biscayne Bay campus worked for five more runs in the top of the fifth.

In the bottom of the fifth, Bonilla brought on another right handed pitcher, Jim Varona. It was a chance for Varona to get some work in.

“We expect Varona to be our second pitcher,” Bonilla explained. “Rios, our catcher, Max Liff, and Varona all played on our summer team and have been working well together. He and Rios and Liff have been working a lot together and building good chemistry.”

The relationship between pitcher and catcher is an important one. The pitchers and their backstop work great and feed off each other, and it helped on Tuesday.

“Max and I have been working together for the last three years. Max is great at framing the pitch and its been working well,” Rios said.

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