Boca Knocks Off Spanish River In 8A-10 Semifinal With Hit Parade

Schaefer Shepard of Boca Raton hit his first home run of the season to lead the Bobcats over rival Spanish River 11-3 in a District 10-8A semifinal.

Boca Raton picked a great time to get its offense going.

The third-seeded Bobcats pounded out 12 hits en route to an 11-3 victory over rival Spanish River in a District 8A-10 semifinal Tuesday in Boynton Beach.

Boca Raton (10-15) plays top-seeded Park Vista in the district final at 7 p.m. Thursday in Boynton Beach.

Leadoff hitter Mike Smicklas led the way with four singles and a walk.

“As a team, it was our best game of the season,” said Smicklas, a sophomore center fielder who singled to start the game, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Marley Kimelman and scored on Sean Gallagher’s double.

Schaefer Shepard, who batted ninth, added two hits, including his first home run of the season, a two-run line drive over the left field fence in the second inning.

“Guys were aggressive at the plate,” said Boca Raton coach Jeff Rosa. “We swung the bats like I haven’t seen us swing for most of the season. That was the hope. We’ve struggled so much offensively this year that we came out we were squaring the ball up. We were getting big hits because we were hitting the ball hard.

“We got guys on base and for the first, maybe second, time all year we made a team pay for that whereas (before) we have been lacking those big hits.”

Rosa was impressed with the way Shepard came through.

“Shaefer been struggling throughout the course of the year,” said Rosa. “We made a few tweaks in his batting stance, just taking his hands shorter to the ball, and that’s exactly what happened. He got a fastball, it was middle in, he got extended and he hit the snot out of it.”

Shepard’s homer, on a 1-0 pitch, gave Boca Raton a 3-0 lead against Spanish River starter and loser Mike Chambers.

“When I hit it, I thought it was going off the wall,” said Shepard. “I didn’t think it was a home run. It felt great. We lost 1-0 (to Spanish River) the last game on a bloop single and we didn’t want to go out like that. We proved a lot of people wrong probably today. Our pitching and defense has been there all year. We just have to get the bats going. And it happened tonight.”

Kimelman also had two hits for the Bobcats, who added four runs in the seventh inning.

“They hit the ball,” said Spanish River manager Bill Harvey. “They deserve to go on. We wish them well.”

Moving on at the expense of their rivals made the victory that much sweeter, according to Smickilas.

“We’re doing well, we’re in regionals,” said Smicklas. “It’s so much better, especially having revenge since we lost to them on that little bloop single. It was great. Our bats came alive finally.”

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