Southwest Takes Down Varela For Second Time In A Week

Southwest and Varela have gotten really familiar with each other over the past two weeks. The teams, rivals in 6A-16, have faced off three times in the span of less than 14 days. The Vipers took the first game, 3-2, back on April 24th.

It has been the eagles, however, that have won the games that mattered since then. Last week, Southwest defeated Varela 2-1 in the district semifinal.

On Tuesday, the teams were back at it again, with another intense game going the way of the Eagles, 5-4, in the 6A regional quarterfinals.

“Hats off to Varela and Lazer (Collazo), Varela always battles and they are well-prepared. Their starter Edgar, he is a special player,” said Southwest Manager Mandy Pelaez. “I think he lost the feel for his slider there in the fifth a little bit, and we were able to battle back into the game. It was a great high school game, and a big win for our program.”

The game really was a tale of two very different games. For innings one through four, and six through seven, only one run was scored, by Varela in the second inning.

In the fifth, however, is where the fireworks took place. Varela struck first, expanding their 1-0 lead to 4-0, with three runs in the top half of the inning. An Alejandro Ponte single plated two, and a fielder’s choice off the bat of Amaury De Jesus, gave Colon what looked like an insurmountable 4-0 lead.

In their half of the fifth, Southwest battled back. Three walks and two hit batters, closed the gap, and then Joel Cabrera, who has been one of the eagles moct clutch hitters all season, came through again, with a two run single to give Southwest the lead.

“Joel did what he has been doing since he put on a Southwest uniform,” said Pelaez. “He comes through in the biggest moments, and today he did that again. To have an at-bat like that, against a pitcher as good as Colon, I can’t say enough about Joel.”

From there, the Eagles turned the game over to Euclides Alvarez, who gave up only one hit in the final two innings, and closed out the 5-4 win.

The three games between the two teams resulted in a run differential of only one run.

“They were great games with these guys, all three,” said Pelaez. “Not much separated the two teams. We were just fortunate that we did what we had to, and put together some big at-bats, to get the job done today.”

While the Vipers season ends at 17-9, the Eagles (21-6), will move on to host Dwyer, the current #2 team in the HSBN Palm Beach Power Rankings.

Both Dwyer and Southwest have a chance to seize an opportunity, as the #1 team in HSBN Miami Power Rankings, Doral, one of the top teams in the state, was upset Tuesday by South Broward.

“We know we have a tough game at home against Dwyer coming up Friday. We are looking forward to a good game,” said Pelaez.

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