Monarch Falls Short Again In Annual Franco Bowl

The Monarch Knights have been one of the better stories in Broward for much of the year. After starting the season 15-1, the Knights have now lost three of their past four games, including Thursday’s 4-0 loss to Santaluces in a game that pitted Monarch head coach Joe Franco against his brother, Santaluces head coach Nick Franco.

The Knights were stymied offensively by Chiefs senior Doug Wright, who threw a complete-game one-hitter. Monarch’s Franco gave credit to Wright, while pointing out his team’s offensive inefficiency of late.

“Give their pitcher credit, he threw strikes, he worked fast, he really dictated the game,” Franco said. “Over the past week, our offense has been non-existent, and we’re certainly not going to win a district title if we cannot hit.”

On the other side of the field, Nick Franco was pleased with the way his pitcher performed.

“He was unbelievable today,” the Chiefs’ Franco said. “He dominated the strike zone and he kept his pitch count low throughout the game. He has pitched really well for us all year long, but he’s had a tough-luck season. Today, the defense played well behind him and that made the difference in us winning or losing.”

That defense was stellar all afternoon. Shortstop Eric Cabrera made several stellar plays, and catcher Dominic Teresi was a wall behind the plate, allowing Wright to throw his off-speed stuff down and out of the strike zone without the fear of anything going to the backstop.

“Eric did an outstanding job today,” Franco said, “and Dom’s been an iron horse back there for us behind the plate. He’s caught every inning for us this season, outside of maybe five or six, and he’s really developed into a very good catcher.”

The game started somewhat strange when Monarch senior David Webb was pulled after striking out the first batter of the game. Webb felt something tighten in his back, and the Knights’ Franco went right to his ace, Andrew Pierson.

The Chiefs scored the first run of the game in the second. Wright reached on an error, then consecutive singles by Cabrera and Braden Giffen made the score 1-0.

In the fourth, Santaluces added two more runs. Wright delivered the big hit in the inning, a run-scoring double to left. The Chiefs may have scored a third run in the inning, but Hunter Kyzar was thrown out at the plate trying to score on Wright’s double.

From there, it was clear sailing for the Chiefs and Wright. The senior took a no-hitter into the fifth before surrendering the lone Monarch hit on the day, a single to Andrew Rohloff.

“I was just going after the hitters, getting ahead, throwing strikes,” Wright said. “Dom allowed me to throw my junk, and my defense was strong behind me. It was a good win for us to take into the playoffs next week.”

Coming into the annual Franco brother match-up, Santaluces had won four in a row. This season, Monarch has been impressive, posting a 16-3 record. That, coupled with Santaluces’ 10-13 record, gave Joe and his club the belief that this was the year the streak would end, but Nick credits his Palm Beach foes for preparing the Chiefs for these types of games.

“I think, because Palm Beach County baseball is so strong, we were able to just play our game and not worry about the pressure,” Nick said. “Because we play big games almost every time we take the field in Palm Beach, we weren’t overwhelmed today coming in here against a team with 16 wins. Having said that, Joe’s done a great job with that program. This year, they had their best season ever in the history of the school, and I think they will do alright in the playoffs as well.”

Joe agreed with his brother’s assessment of the level of play between Broward and Palm Beach.

“I’ll always have the first game that we played against each other,” Joe said. “But, overall, I think that Palm Beach baseball is a lot better than Broward. There is a lot more depth in Palm Beach, and his record does not give a good indication of how good they (Santaluces) are. They played a tough schedule, and my brother does a great job over there, so I guess if I have to lose to somebody, it might as well be him.”

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