Miami Springs Moves Closer To Defending 3A Regional Title

The Miami Springs Golden Hawks continue to build on to their legacy. The current Class 3A state champions have moved even closer to the chance to return to the state tournament and defend their crown, following a series sweep of the iMater Knights in the Region 3A-4 semifinals. Following a 6-5 decision on Friday night in the opening game of the best-of-three series, Miami Springs closed things out with a 7-2 victory on Saturday afternoon.

The Golden Hawks (17-10-1) advance to the 3A regional semifinals next weekend. The winner of that best-of-three series will punch its ticket to the state Final Four, and it would also be Miami Springs’ third regional championship, all since 2019.

“So, at this point of the season, it’s a big win for us,” Miami Springs Manager Corey Estrada said. “Being able to make it happen gives us a lot of confidence going into next week. Something we preach a lot is to play our best baseball towards the end of the year. That’s kind of something the boys are doing right now, and we just hope to keep the momentum going into next week.”

The Hawks channeled plenty of momentum to get things started in Saturday’s elimination contest, as they grabbed the lead in the first and then went back in front with the winning runs in the top of the second. Esaul Pena lined a single to left with two outs in the first, and Eisler Piloto supplied an RBI double to grab an immediate advantage. An inning later Michael Maiquez walked and was replaced on the bases by courtesy-runner Mattheu Palacios, who scored thanks to a sac-fly RBI from Jovani Zora. Taylor Ancheta then delivered the biggest dagger with a three-run home run that gave Springs a 5-2 lead.

Kristopher Mederos added a two-run home run in the sixth for extra insurance runs.

“We just played a lot of good overall team baseball,” Estrada said. “We had some big home runs this series, our pitching did a real good job of throwing strikes and giving us a chance to stay in the game, and the defense came up with some big plays when we needed them. Something we’ve been stressing all year is play team baseball. Our bats have been hot all year, and now the defense and pitching is starting to match it, which has given us a chance to win a lot of ball games in the last couple weeks.”

Leave a comment using your facebook account!