By: J. Daniel Pearson
In a dramatic comeback, Harmony rallied from six runs down in the third inning to defeat Lake Nona, 15-6, and capture the Class 7A, District 9 championship on Thursday night at neutral site St. Cloud High.
The Longhorns, now 21-6 and winners of eight straight games, will wait until today (Friday) to find out who they will play in next Wednesday’s regional quarterfinal game. “I’m so proud of these guys right now,” Harmony coach Heath Williams said. “When you go down by six runs in the third, it’s pretty easy for a team to hang their heads and go through the motions. This team is not like that. They will fight, claw and battle you to the end.”
Things did not start out well for the Longhorns. Starter Alexavier Lebron only lasted a third of an inning, walking three and giving up a home as Harmony fell behind, 4-0.
The deficit grew to six as Lake Nona touched reliever Ismael Rivera up for two runs (one earned) in the top of the third. But from that point forward, Rivera would shut the door and Harmony started to chip away at the lead.
They countered Nona’s two runs with two of their own in the bottom of the third as Angel Medina delivered a sacrifice fly and Jadiel Perez scored on a throwing error.
Harmony then sent 11 batters to the plate in the fourth inning, scoring six times to take an 8-6 lead. Alexander and Matt Grau opened the rally with back-to-back singles. Perez then singled and Samuel Castillo was hit by a pitch. Medina followed with a two-run double and Jose Scrofani added a two-run single to cap the rally.
The Longhorns added three more in the fifth as Perez had a two-run home run to left and Medina hit a moonshot over the centerfield fence.
Meanwhile, Rivera was extremely effective in relief. He finished by working five strong innings, allowing just four hits, one earned run and striking out six. He gave way to Westin Thompson in the sixth, who overcame three walks but struck out four and did not allow a hit in his 1 and two-thirds innings of work.
There were plenty of offensive heroes for the Longhorns.
Medina finished the game with two doubles, a home run, two runs scored and six RBI. Perez had four runs scored, a couple of hits and three RBI; Samuel Castillo and Jose Scrofani each had two RBI. For the game, Harmony had six extra base hits and saw every starter reach base at least once. Lebron, who went to first after giving up four runs as starting pitcher, had a couple of hits and scored twice.
“Alexavier is a prime example of this team’s character, when we pulled him I told him to go play first base because we needed him to help us come back and win this game. He kept his head in the game and played a big role in the comeback.”
Lake Nona, who defeated St. Cloud 3-2 in a Tuesday district semifinal, drops to a 16-11 and will have to wait until tomorrow to see if they secured one of four available regional at-large spots in the state tournament. “They are a really good team,” Williams added. “Unfortunately we had some number one teams get upset in their district and it may end up freezing them out. It’s too bad because I thought both Lake Nona and St. Cloud (17-7) were more than deserving to move on.”
In other district playoff action, Harmony captured the 4A, District 10 flag football championship with a 26-7 win over Celebration. The Longhorns move to 13-4 on the season and will play in a regional quarterfinal game next Wednesday; while Celebration (14-3) will wait to see if they get an at-large spot in the state tournament.
BASEBALL CLASS 7A, DISTRICT 9 TOURNAMENT
Quarterfinals 4/14
Harmony, bye
Cypress Creek 13, Tohopekaliga 7
Lake Nona 15, Poinciana 1
St. Cloud, bye
Semifinals 4/15
Harmony 3, Cypress Creek 0
Lake Nona 3, St. Cloud 2
Championship 4/17
Harmony 15, Lake Nona 6
