Miami Springs Captures Third Straight District Title

Box Score

Thursday’s District 3A-15 championship was everything a baseball fan could ask for. Each team had one big offensive inning, and otherwise rode the pitching and defense in a tug-of-war showdown. But the top-seeded Miami Springs Hawks held on to the end for a tough, 3-2 victory over the LaSalle Lions to claim the district crown.

It is the third consecutive district championship for the Hawks (20-3), the #2 team in the HSBN Miami-Dade Power Rankings.

“Winning a district championship is one of the goals that we have set for the year,” Springs Manager David Fanshawe said. “But ultimately, we will work to give us a shot to play as long as possible in this postseason. We look forward to competing next week in the regional tournament.”

By virtue of winning the district, Miami Springs will host in the opening round of the regional playoffs, with final brackets yet to be released. A three-run second inning paved the way to that home-field clinching win, as the Hawks got all of their runs in one frame.

Justin Mercado walked and Roydan Perez then singled with two outs to keep the second inning alive, and Magdiel Estevez rewarded that effort by lacing a shot to right field for a two-RBI triple. A wild pitch allowed Estevez to also come home.

But the Lions (16-6) refused to go quietly, rallying for a pair of runs in the fourth to pull within a run of evening things back up. Connor Hernandez singled with one out, and Jason Amor followed with an RBI double to center that ended the shutout and got LaSalle on the board. After Hector Sosa singled to keep things going, Gianni Farach delivered an RBI single to center that drove Amor in.

“It was a hard-fought battle on both sides, and unfortunately we came up short, but our young men competed until the last pitch today, and there was no quit in us,” LaSalle Manager Nate Gomez said. “Internally, we all knew we had a special group this year. They are a competitive, hard-working bunch that deserved to be in this position today. I am very proud and blessed to be their coach.”

Springs starting pitcher Kevin Roque dug down for his best stuff to induce a flyout that ended the rally in the fourth, and he finished off his outing with a scoreless fifth that was punctuated with his eighth strikeout of the game.

“Kevin Roque came out and battled and gave us a shot to win the game today,” Fanshawe said. “He has been exceptional all year, and is proving himself as one of the best pitchers in Miami this season.”

Kaiser Alvarez earned the save, as he came up with two scoreless frames to seal the win. The right-hander allowed two hits and had four strikeouts to record his second save of the year.

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