Monarch Gains Signature Win With 3-1 Victory Over Springs

All season, the Monarch Knights have had to listen to critics claim their 15-2 record was a mirage, a product of a weak schedule. Wait until they play one of Broward’s top teams, the critics chirped. On Tuesday, the Knights finally got that opportunity when number four Coral Springs came to town, and the Knights did the same thing to the Colts that they had to 15 other teams this year: They beat them.

The Knights scored three runs in the first two innings, then rode the left arm of Andrew Pierson to a 3-1 victory. The win silenced the critics and announced Monarch as a team to be reckoned with come playoff time.

“I said in my interview with you a couple of weeks ago, I’d go to battle with anybody in the country with this team, and today you saw why,” said a jubilant Monarch head coach Joe Franco after the game. “I trust my kids. I know they do the right things…everybody has their doubts about us, but I know what I have here with this group of players, and I’m just extremely proud of them today.”

Although the Knights played the game with the intensity and passion needed when two top teams played, Coral Springs left their “A” game at home. Right from the start, the Colts appeared disinterested, making three errors in the first two innings. The lethargy continued throughout the game and led to a rare loss against their former district rivals.

“The guys didn’t come to play today,” said Colts head coach Frank Bumbales. “When you think you’re just going to show up and beat a team, this is the kind of stuff that will happen. You get it handed to you. Outside of the way we played, you have to give Andrew (Pierson) credit. He kept our kids off balance all game long, and he pitched a great game.”

The Colts actually took the lead in the top of the first when lead-off hitter Dylan Ebel reached on an error. A single by Tre Dingus and an RBI ground out from Alan Sharkey made the score 1-0.

In its half of the inning, Monarch sent eight batters to the plate, regaining the lead at 2-1. Josh Mila and Andrew Rohloff each contributed RBI singles during the inning. The Knights had a chance to do even more damage against Colts starter Joey Silvani but left the bases loaded.

A one-out single by Nick Sposa and another Colts error led to the Knights’ third run of the game in the third. From there, Monarch turned it over to Pierson, who threw a complete game, giving up only four hits. Coral Springs had only one batter reach base in the final four innings of the game.

“It feels really good,” Pierson said. “We haven’t played the best competition this season, and we were looking forward to this game to see how we stack up against other top teams, and this was a great win. I’ve been playing against them for four years, and they beat us every time, so I think we just wanted this game more today than they did.”

Now that the Knights have achieved that signature win, the week does not get any easier. Next up for Monarch is St. Thomas in a potential preview of the 7A playoffs in a few weeks. St. Thomas is one of the favorites to come out of District 7A-16, and the Knights already have clinched the top seed in District 7A-15.

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