Coral Springs Honors 2010 District Champs; Downs Pine Crest

The atmosphere at Coral Springs High School was electric on Tuesday night as the defending 10-6A champion Colts took the field for the first time this season. Fireworks lit the air before the game, and then again in the fifth inning, as Coral Springs picked up their first victory of the season over Pine Crest in the Colts First Pitch Classic.

As has become a tradition the past several years, the Colts broke out the explosives during pregame introductions. The players returning from last year’s district championship were honored as part of the festivities, and when the game finally began, Coral Springs players were up to the task.

In the first inning, the Colts scored two runs on a Lewis Brinson triple and an Alan Sharkey single. From there, Coral Springs did not look back on their way to a 6-2 win over the Panthers, and they appeared to be playing with a chip on their shoulder throughout the game. Afterwards, Colts Head Coach Frank Bumbales explained where his players’ motivation came from.

“We put an article up in the dugout before the game that the Sun-Sentinel had written about us, giving Douglas a district title last year. So it put a little fire in them. I could see it in their eyes before the game started.”

It was Coral Springs that won the district title last season, and the lack of respect from the Sentinel seemed to provide the spark for the Colts to break out of a funk they were in during the preseason.

Pine Crest did not have many opportunities to score, as Colts starting pitcher Aaron Maller was in control for much of the night. Maller threw six innings and only allowed two hits and one run. The Colts ace struck out four and walked one on the way to his first win of 2011. It was a performance that Coral Springs coaches have come to expect from Maller.

“That’s what he gave us all postseason last year,” said Bumbales, “He had a few bumps in the road during the season last year, but for the most part, that’s what we expected.”

The offense for the Colts was led by Brinson who tripled in the first inning and then broke the game open in the fifth with a two-run homer to left. The blast gave Coral Springs a 5-1 lead. Brinson ended the day 2-3 and drove in half of the Colts six runs on the evening.

Pine Crest could have folded after the Brinson home run in the fifth, but instead, the Panthers kept with their patient approach at the plate, and it almost paid off in the final inning. Maller gave way to sophomore Kenny Warner in the top of the seventh, but this was not Warner’s night.

The sophomore got Panthers third baseman Ben Arkin to fly out to left to start the inning, but then walked Alex Perez, and was victimized by a Dalton Wolchik error at shortstop. After Harrison Meister grounded into a fielder’s choice, second to short, Ronnie Rocca lined a double to left, and Panthers lead-off hitter Jake Toffler walked. That signaled the end of the night on the mound for Warner.

Closer Wolchik was summoned from his shortstop position by Bumbales, and he proceeded to get Michael Pierson to ground to second to end the game. After the game, Pine Crest Head Coach Glen Pierson summed up his teams performance and their ability to come back despite the five run deficit in the seventh.

“That’s what we do. We are always going to keep battling. We have been a team that is going to keep playing hard and battling until the last out,” said Pierson. “Sometimes it works out in our favor, but tonight it didn’t.”

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