Xtremeline Tops PP Panthers For Fall Classic JV Championship

Extreme Line Baseball celebrates their title… Click the photo to view the photo gallery for this game.

Xtremeline rode the strong pitching performance of Roger Garcia and an all-around solid team effort Tuesday to defeat the Pembroke Pines Panthers 11-1 for the junior varsity championship of the HSBN Fall Classic.

Guierrmo Salas and Gary Mattis were named co-MVPs of the tournament. Salas scored twice and Mattis three times as Xtremeline broke open a 4-1 game with a seven-run sixth keyed by Umburto Quitania’s double and base hits from Mattis, Nelio Freitas, Andrew Peredes, Nick Thompson, Noah Lopez and Kyle Torres.

Mattis scored on an error in the third for the first run of the game, and Alex Valladeros added a run to make it 2-0 in the fourth.

Aaron Lutchman singled in Jorge Gonzalez to put the Panthers on the board in the fifth. A big play by short stop Salas with two outs and two on got Xtremeline out of the inning.

“He really turned the game,” Xtremeline coach Joel Bradley said. “Close game, they were in a situation where they were about to break it open. And there’s a ball about to drop in between center and second, and he comes out of nowhere and makes an over-the-head, Willie Mays-type of play, I mean major-league play. The kid has incredible range.”

HSBN Classic Younger MVP

Salas is just one product of Xtremeline, which works with players from schools such as St. Thomas, American Heritage, Cypress Bay and Pembroke Pines Charter along with players from international countries such as Venezuela with the goal of developing them to reach their potential.

“It’s an interesting mix, but the one thing they love is the opportunity to compete,” Bradley said. “The tournament gives us the best opportunity to give these kids the experience they need to play to the next level. Whether they’re local kids or international kids, without exception, they were real excited getting into this tournament. We had a real positive experience from the tournament last year.”

Xtremeline pitcher Roger Garcia, a freshman at Archbishop McCarthy, threw five innings and kept the Panthers off balance to record the win.

Xtremline reached the championship round after having the fewest runs allowed as they won a tiebreaker situation with the other two teams in their opening-round bracket.

“That is a direct result of our good defense and the pitching,” Bradley said. “When you have good defense, our pitchers didn’t feel the pressure of having to be perfect on the mound. They knew they could pound the strike zone with a fastball and then just pitch to contact. It takes off so much pressure when you don’t feel like you have to be the person to beat that hitter. You have nine guys against that one guy. It is a real mental boost for any pitcher that’s out there on the mound. And that’s what our guys did. The pitching really went hand in hand with the rest of our team.”

Bradley said he’s seen a lot of progress in the Xtremeline team over the course of the fall and especially in the tournament.

“We’re just real excited because I saw a lot of growth with those young guys getting an opportunity to play in a really good tournament and play with our older kids a little bit,” he said.

On the other side of the field, Panthers coach Onel Garcia also was pleased with the improvement of his team, especially pitcher Frank Morales, “a kid who could help us next year on varsity.”

“I’m proud of our jv team,” Garcia said. “Our jv has a lot of talent and is learning how to play varsity baseball. They’re learning how to be disciplined and learning our system. They’re a good-hitting team. I’m proud they seem to be progressing through the fall.”

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