- April 24, 2024
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Father Lopez trailed 6-0 with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning. They rallied back but lost in the regional championship.
BY MATT MENCARINI | SPORTS EDITOR
Zach Hawk’s sixth-inning single gave the Green Wave nation hope.
The two-out RBI hit cut Providence’s lead to 6-5 in the regional championship game Saturday, May 11. It was the fifth run of the inning, all with two outs, but it would also be the last run of Father Lopez’s season.
Providence held off the Father Lopez rally, won 7-5 and advanced to the state semifinals. For the Green Wave and its senior class, it was the end of a long game, a long week and a season in which they proved themselves to Florida's high school baseball elite.
“We talked about adversity all year,” coach Trevor Berryhill said. “And I even told them last night, after they got home, I said, ‘More adversity. So what?’”
The game ended Saturday afternoon, but it began Friday night. A rain delay then a lightning delay allowed the two teams to play just five outs into the game. At 10 p.m. Friday, nearly two hours into the lightning delay, the game was officially postponed.
The two teams picked things up Saturday just as they had left them, with Tommy Roache on second and Brandon Leohner at the plate. But it was Providence that took control of the game.
The Stallions scored three runs in the third, two in the fifth and another in the top of the sixth, going up 6-0 before Father Lopez made its rally.
“We talked about believing,” Berryhill said. “We talked about family. We talked about adversity. We talked about playing to the final pitch — one pitch at a time."
All things considered, Berryhill said he's proud of his team. "I always expected them to fight back.”
It was the third game the Green Wave played that week, after a downpour delayed their first regional playoff game against St. Johns Country Day (a 2-0 win May 6). The Green Wave then had to play P.K. Yonge (a 6-3 win May 8) before ending the week with Providence, the defending Class 3A state champions.
“I don’t foresee a team ever comparing with the nine seniors we had and amazing freshmen and sophomores and juniors we had on this team,” senior Nick Restuccia said. “Literally, all 18, 19 guys on this team fought in practice, after practice, before games, during games.
“And that really showed in the sixth inning. That defines our team, right there: five runs with two outs, you don’t really see that too much late in the games.”
Restuccia and many of the seniors, like Roache and Hawk, played more than just four years together. Many played together in the Golden Spikes program, and have been playing together for nearly eight years.
“This season was special,” Hawk said. “It was a lot of fun. Obviously, we made it the farthest we (ever) had, but we became a lot closer and know each other a lot better.”
The departing nine seniors include two starting pitchers and five starting positional players.
“It’s going to be tough to replace those guys,” Berryhill said. “But we have some good young talent, and I’ll continue to think about this game for today and into tomorrow, and then move on to next season. At least I hope I can.”
