Palm Beach Gardens Moves On With 4-3 Victory Over Wellington

Palm Beach Gardens players celebrate their district playoff win Monday.

As has frequently been the case for the Gators this season, Palm Beach Gardens pulled out a one-run win Monday night with some big plays in the clutch.

Gardens was 5-1 on the year in one-run games, with none bigger than this one in the district play-in game against Wellington, and the Gators responded by winning 4-3 to advance to the District 8A-9 semifinals Wednesday against Palm Beach Central.

The Gators went into the bottom of the seventh trailing the Wolverines 3-2. Joey Boyd led off the inning and reached base on a throwing error from the shortstop. A well-executed bunt by Nick Oberg advanced Boyd to second and put the potential tying run in scoring position. That brought junior Nick Gallo to the plate.

“They say great players make great plays in big situations,” Gallo said.

The Gators have gotten late-game heroics from many players this season, and on this night, Gallo came up big.

After falling behind 0-2, Gallo delivered a hard-hit single that drove in the tying run.

“I just shortened my stride, protected the plate and threw my hands at it to hit it right up the middle,” he said.

Gallo advanced to second as the throw came home to continue to apply pressure to the Wolverine defense. Zion Bell followed with a single to right that got Gallo to third with just one out. With the potential winning run on third, Wellington looked to reliever Nick Lawrence to escape the jam. However, a high pitch got away from the catcher and Gallo alertly came home to score the winning run.

“We had our chances earlier, but you know what, our first two runs were on two-out hits, so without those, it’s not even close,” Palm Beach Gardens coach Joe Russo said.

The Gators jumped out to a two-run lead in the second with back-to-back RBI singles by Matt Williams and Joey Boyd respectively.

Wellington struck in the fourth when a walk, single and sacrifice bunt put runners on second and third with just one out. A Michael Cusenza groundout to short plated Peter Rivera from third, and catcher James Lovett drove in another with a single to left to tie the game at 2. Wellington added another in the fifth when David Koos scored from third on a wild pitch.

The Wolverines had opportunities to add to the 3-2 lead in both the sixth and seventh innings with the bases loaded and one out. However, the Gators converted two huge double plays to escape both jams without damage.

“That game right there was a snapshot of our season,” Wellington coach Scott Riddle said. “We’ve been in so many of those games. We kind of hoped the odds would turn in our favor, we’d catch a break and we’d win a couple, but we just couldn’t finish this one.”

It was a tough ending to a tough season for the Wolverines, but Riddle was proud of his bunch.

“I’m very disappointed, but the legacy of this class is just a group that kept fighting when the whole world told them that they shouldn’t. It was just a classy, hard-working group of great kids, and that to me is what I’ll remember about them.”

Palm Beach Gardens has a tall task in facing top-seeded Palm Beach Central on Wednesday. Although Central was one of the most dominant teams in the county, the Gators played them well this year, splitting the season series and outscoring the Broncos 13-12 in aggregate.

Brooks de Montluzin made the start for the Gators on Monday, allowing just three hits in the no decision. Matt Williams came on in relief and got the win, while going 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI. Jean Cancio went 3-for-3 with a run.

Wellington starter Spencer Stockton went six and one-third innings in the loss, surrendering just two earned runs.

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