Seacrest Country Day Advances To State Finals

Tyler Lopes allowed two earned runs and struck out eight to earn the win for the Seahawks.

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Manager Mark Marsala and his young Seacrest Country Day squad has had magic all season. In the biggest moment of the season it was a suicide-squeeze play from Jack Sladick that kept the magic alive.

In the Class 2A regional final against visiting Atlantic Christian Academy, the Seahawks rallied for a walk-off win in a 7-6 victory that earns them a spot in next week’s Class 2A state Final Four. After Atlantic Christian rallied for the lead in the top of the seventh, the Stingrays (20-8) scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to erase a big deficit.

Seacrest loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh. David DiNorcia got things going with a single to center, Matt DiNorcia slapped a single through the right side and Josue Rivera walked. Tyler Lopes worked an RBI walk before Eric Chavez connected for the hit of the day with a liner to right field that tied the contest. Collin Breuer was intentionally walked to load the bases and set up the force opporunity, but the Seahawks countered with the squeeze bunt from Sladick.

Following an emotional and challenging road had also been paved with plenty of luck and lots of heart, the Saints (12-9) were unable to hold off one final furious rally from the Country Day offense. The team had come a long way from the start of the season, where the program was unsure if it would even be able to field a team. Then the club capitalized on every opportunity to make a deep playoff run, including a thrilling extra-inning victory in the final inning of its regional semifinal at Master’s Academy.

“This ride was incredible,” said first-year manager Ariel Gonzalez. “We were so blessed to be here as a team. Yeah, it’s upsetting that we came up short, but they were the better team tonight. We had five errors, and it’s hard to win games when you have five errors. We still had a chance to win. This was the third close game that we fought back and the other three we actually came back winning. This one, they got the best of us. Things have been going our way all season and we can’t win them all.”

Ronald Ramadan slides into third base with a triple in the fourth.

Even despite the miscues, the Saints were able to overcome and put themselves in position for the victory. The Stingrays took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, as Lopes singled and later came home on a passed ball.

Atlantic Christian answered right back for one last magical moment on the season. Down to their final out, they made their final push to chase after the victory. Carlos Rodriguez started the rally by lining a 1-1 offering into left field for a single. Petru De La Garza then pushed the tying run to third base when he blasted a shot off the left field fence for a double. Chris Perez followed by putting the ball in play to the infield defense, and an error allowed him to reach safely and also plate Rodriguez with the tying score.

The Stingrays elected to intentionally walk Ronald Ramadan to load the bags and set up a force play, and Mark Hunterburg made them regret that decision when he reached base on a throwing error that cleared the bases to give Atlantic Christian a 6-3 advantage.

It was the third time in the contest that the Saints had answered back after Seacrest Country Day scored. The Stingrays scored an unearned run in the bottom of the first when Rivera stole home, only to allow Ramadan to even things up by scoring on an error in the top of the second. The home team jumped back on top in the third when Pedro Legrand doubled and scored on an RBI groundout from Matt DiNorcia. Ramadan responded by scorching a triple with one out in the fourth and then scoring on an RBI single from Hunterburg.

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