Healy’s Four RBI Lead Jupiter Over Palm Beach Gardens 12-5

Lance Fry and David Tavilla prepare for last at-bats.

Palm Beach Gardens knew it was in a must-win situation after dropping their district opener, but after getting mercy-ruled by Dwyer, the Jupiter Warriors also were in a must-win scenario.

“Actually, it was real important to win today after getting run-ruled by Dwyer, and coming back against another rival team,” head coach Andy Mook said about a potential 0-2 district start. “It was huge to win today.”

The importance of winning tonight weighed heavy on both teams and it showed through various miscues, but at the end of the night, the Warriors’ bats came out swinging en route to a 12-5 victory in District 8A-9.

It looked gloomy after the first frame for Jupiter as the Warriors had some trouble catching the ball, committing four errors that allowed three Gators to score. Jean Cancio had the lone RBI of the inning, when he hit a sharp single through the 5-6 hole.

In the bottom of third, the Warriors took advantage of a two-out error to score four unearned runs. Pat Walther took advantage of the mistake to knock in a run, and Victor Gonzalez drove in two with a two-out RBI single up the middle. The clutch hit gave the Warriors a 4-3 lead after three.

Their lead would not last, as the Gators took advantage of a dropped third strike and a gusting wind to score their fourth run. Lead-off man Nick Gallo was the beneficiary as his fly ball to straight-away center was brought all the way back to the diamond where a diving Peter Sitaras could not make the catch.

In the next frame, the Warriors came back and repeated their four-run output from the previous inning. Another miscue allowed for another Warriors big inning.

“We had a couple of devastating mistakes,” coach Joe Russo said. “We had a chance to turn two but ran into some bad luck there. If we make those plays, we are out of those innings with no runs. Instead, we come out of those two innings giving up eight runs.”

Ronnie Healy made the Gators pay when he singled down the left-field line to bring in two. Logan Heiser’s bases-loaded walk brought in the last run of the frame to push the lead to 8-4.

Cancio’s home run to lead off the fifth brought the Gators within three, but Healy and company put the game out of reach in the bottom of the frame when they pushed across another four runs.

Healy led the way by going 3-for-5 with four RBI, while Kyle Keatts pitched five innings, recording
five strikeouts on the way to the victory.

“First couple at-bats I wasn’t seeing the ball,” Healy said about his 0-for-2 start to the game. “The last couple at-bats, I tried to see the ball. I relaxed, saw a couple more pitches and stayed patient.”

His patience paid, as he keyed the offensive comeback.

Despite the loss, Russo is still upbeat about his team and their future.

“We have to get some guys healthy,” Russo said. “We have to continue to work and keep focus. All we can do is keep working hard and figure out what we need to do.”

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