Coral Reef Finishes 2nd At Prospect Select Tournament

It was an overall successful Spring Break trip for the Coral Reef Barracudas. The team nearly doubled its win total and played its way to the championship game, before ultimately falling 10-5 to the Cypress Bay Lightning in Wednesday’s title game at the USSSA Space Coast Sports Complex in Viera.

With the district tournament and state playoffs not too far ahead in the future, the Barracudas earned the chance to get an early taste of the postseason. In reaching the championship it helped showcase their strengths to build off of, while the tough defeat helps expose the areas they can aim to improve upon heading into the playoffs.

“I am proud of the way my team played in this tournament,” Coral Reef Manager Nick Quintero said. “We did a good job of reflecting our capabilities in the first two games. We have been spending the season trying to demonstrate that. Although we did not finish with the results we wanted, I am glad we were able to compete for a championship. Playing for championships is what I want to be doing every year. That is a step in the right direction.”

The Barracudas (5-14) made their way to the finals thanks to a pair of big wins, a 12-0 decision over Washington Latin Public Charter, and a 19-1 victory over the Williamsburg Wildcats.

But Cypress Bay (13-6) stormed out of the opening chute by scoring five runs in the top of the first inning, taking a lead it never surrendered. An inning later the Lightning added on the run that proved to be the difference, as Diego Baron’s RBI single drove in Santiago Sanchez to make it a 6-3 advantage.

The Barracudas answered back with three runs in the bottom of the first, and another in the third that pulled them to a 6-4 deficit.

The first three batters all reached base to get things going in the first. Adrian Romero singled, Willy Vega worked a one-out walk and Oscar Sanchez reached with an infield single that loaded up the bases. Marcus Garcia put the ball in play, resulting in an error for the Cudas’ first run. Yosueth Henriquez then delivered a liner to right field that drove in two runs.

Sanchez helped manufacture another run in third. After reaching with a lead-off single to right, he then stole both second and third base to get within ninety feet of the plate. An RBI single from Marcus Garcia plated Sanchez to pull within two runs and stay in the battle.

But a four-run fifth inning helped cement the Lightning victory. Michael Ramos led off with a base hit to left, and he advanced to third on an error. David Granger then did his job with a fly ball to center for a sac-fly RBI. Lian Geronimo and Marshall Persteins followed with consecutive singles, and Sanchez was next with a two-RBI double to left. Pinch-runner Shane Lester then came home after John Escobar reached base on an error.

Although the rally ultimately fell short, Coral Reef was successful in answering right back with a run in the bottom of the fifth that helped steal some of the momentum from the Cypress Bay dugout. Garcia clubbed a one-out double to left, advanced to third on a wild pitch and then scored off an RBI single by Dylan Castro.

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