Seminole Ridge Comes From Behind to Beat Jupiter

Carmine Cioffoletti went 3-for-4 with 3RBIs in Seminole Ridge's come from behind win.

On a night that had the first pitch delayed by a half hour due to weather and a reliever pitch what amounted to a full game, the Seminole Ridge Hawks used some late-game heroics to beat the Jupiter Warriors 6-5 in eight innings Thursday night in a 8A-9 clash.

It was anything but your average game as Jupiter jumped out to an early 5-0 lead, highlighted by Mack Lemieux’s three run home run, and seemed to be cruising. Seminole Ridge tightened up defensively and slowly cut into the lead before winning it in extras on a Mark Kohner RBI single

“I am so proud of my team the way they battled from behind,” Seminole Ridge Manager Trent Prendergast said. “It was a great start for Jupiter offensively and then we made a pitching change and Jason Aponte came in and we were able to squeak a couple runs at a time across. Our guys could have easily packed it in but they didn’t and they fought hard for a great win.”

The game completely changed on that pitching change that Prendergast made. Down four runs already in the bottom of the second, Prendergast elected to pull his starter Richie Catromano and bring in Aponte from right field in relief. What he got was a stellar performance out of his junior, as Aponte allowed only three hits over seven and a third innings.

“He came in and pitched his brains out today,” Prendergast said of Aponte. “He was lights out for the seven innings he pitched and I couldn’t be prouder of him.”

Not only did Aponte pitch what amounted to a full game in relief, he did it after starting the game in the field and coming in already in a deep hole. Despite the difficult situation that he was put into, he didn’t let it get to him and thrived when he was called upon.

“I threw in the bullpen before the game,” Aponte said. “I just stayed relaxed and coach kept me calm telling me to just throw strikes and let our defense take care of it.”

Mack Lemieux went 1-for-3 with a three run home run

While Aponte and the Hawks defense were doing their part, the offense slowly started chopping away at the deficit. Seminole Ridge scored two runs in the third, one in the fourth, and another two in the seventh to tie it up. Each inning that the Hawks scored featured a big hit from first baseman Carmine Cioffoletti. Cioffoletti finished the night 2-for-4 with three big RBIs that helped him get his team back in the game.

“I love coming up in these big situations and helping any way I can,” Cioffoletti said. “I live for the big moments, I live for being able to come in and deliver those RBIs however I can. Going into the at bats my mindset was contact no matter what and I just knew that no matter what, I had to get those runs in.”

After Seminole Ridge tied it up in the top half of the seventh, Jupiter had an opportunity to put it away in the bottom half of the inning. Kevin Fry led off with a standup double off the center field wall and then advanced to third on a ground out. After Aponte intentionally walked Lemieux, designated hitter Robert Valdez came to the plate. Jupiter attempted a squeeze play but Aponte was right there to help get Fry thrown out at the plate.

Seminole Ridge came up in the top half of the eight and scored the winning run on Kohner’s RBI single to complete the comeback.

“A lot of kids would get down a couple of runs and just kind of give up but now these guys know that they can battle against a great team and come from behind and win a huge game so I think it’s a huge confidence boost and hopefully we can keep it going.” Prendergast said.

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