Madness Shootout Gold: Four Of Top Five Seeds Ousted

Bobcats players celebrate taking the lead over #1 Archbishop McCarthy.

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Where were you when #16 beats #1?

The excitement for the inaugural HSBN March Madness Shootout presented by Galeo spices has been building for months. This week, when the brackets were announced, teams started preparing for one of the premiere spring break tournaments in the country. Even the most knowledgeable high school fans could not have predicted the fireworks that took place in the Gold bracket on Saturday.

With all 32 teams in action, the Madness’ first day exceeded all expectations of excitement, the most of which came in a mid-afternoon tilt at Archbishop McCarthy. In a 12-inning thriller, #16 West Broward pulled the unthinkable upset over #1 Archbishop McCarthy.

And if that did not have people crumbling up their brackets, the events of the rest of the day surely sent those brackets into the trash. Along with top-seeded McCarthy, #2 TERRA, #3 Flanagan, and #5 Benjamin all were bounced in the first round by #15 Cypress Bay, #14 Coral Gables, and #12 Pine Crest, respectively.

The only top five team to move on was #4 Braddock. Joining those five teams in the second round are, #6 Belen Jesuit, #7 Westminster Academy, and #8 Mater Academy.

Below is the round up from a crazy first day in the Madness Shootout. Enjoy!

(16) West Broward 4, (1) Archbishop McCarthy 2 (12 innings): Steven Revilla scored on a sacrifice fly from Samyr Santos, and Richie Garcia delivered an RBI single to score Chase Hay-Eldon on the top of the 12th inning, and West Broward reliever Christian Dearman tossed a 1-2-3 bottom half for the upset victory.

“This is why we played in this tournament. We wanted to play against the best, and that’s a national championship caliber team. We wanted that challenge,” West Broward Manager Sergio Ambros said. “The guys have been grinding, we’re 7-5, but we lost four games by two runs or less. I knew they were close. We talked to the players about nobody believing we could win this game, but they all kept their focus, we played one inning at a time, and played for each other.”

Garcia was 4-for-6 and Revilla went 3-for-6 to lead the Bobcats.

The Mavericks collected 10 hits, but struggled to get guys across the plate in the tight contest. Fred Matos, Kobe Lopez, Alex Carballo and Ubaldo Lopez all had two hits each for McCarthy.

(15) Cypress Bay 9, (2) TERRA Institute 6: Alex Abella was 2-for-3 with a double, an RBI and two runs to lead the Lightning to the upset victory. Despite two pitchers that went deep into the game in Cypress Bay’s Greyson Fletcher and TERRA’s Frank Bartow, it was offense that ruled the game.

Every starter in the Cypress Bay lineup reached base to contribute. Anthony Figueroa had an RBI triple and scored twice, and Hector Lozada also scored twice.

“We have a bunch of guys that never quit and believe in each other,” Lightning Manager Paul Liotti said. “It really was March Madness.”

Alexis Valladares led the Wolves by going 4-for-4 with an RBI and two runs. Alec Ulloa was 3-for-4 with three RBIs and Ozzie Millet collected two hits.

(14) Coral Gables 5, (3) Flanagan 2: Brian Melendez and Jose Padron combined for a nice showing on the mound, and the Cavaliers got nice, balanced offensive production. Elih Marrero and Elijiah Eusebio both went 2-for-3 to lead the Gables offense. Padron struck out five and was nearly unhittable in relief.

“Our guys did a good job battling today,” Coral Gables Manager Phil Wisser said. “We knew we were going up against a great team and facing a big arm. We’ve worked on just putting balls in play and making things happen. Our starter, Bryan Melendez did a great job for us and Jose Padron was big for us out of the bullpen.”

Hunter Platts was 2-for-3 with a run and Jorge Gonzalez had a pair of RBIs to lead the Falcons.

(6) Belen Jesuit 5, (11) St. Brendan 4: Jose Chegwin had the winning RBI in the bottom of the sixth as the Wolverines survived a tight battle with the Sabres. Marcos Perez was 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI, and also scored the winning run.

“Today’s win was an excellent team win,” Belen Manager Jerry Albert said. “We were forced to pick each other up on numerous occasions and the kids responded. So many kids contributed on defense and at the plate. It was a true team win.”

Tonito Galvez was 1-for-3 with two runs, and an RBI double for Belen.

(12) Pine Crest 14, (5) Benjamin 3: Twelve seeds are historically known for upset victories in the NCAA March Madness Tournament, and the Panthers brought some of that mystique to the Shootout.

“Today Garret Rukes put in a workman-like performance on the mound, and our seniors Zack Kone and Griffin Conine came through with big homes runs,” Pine Crest Manager Wayne Stofsky said. “I was really happy with the team’s performance against a solid, well-coached Benjamin squad.”

Rukes struck out eight and did not walk any in five innings. Conine had a monster day at the plate, crushing two home runs while going 3-for-3 with five RBIs. Kone was 2-for-4, and his longball was a grand slam. Both hitters also had a double each.

(7) Westminster Academy 3, (10) Miami Brito 1: The Lions got some key hits to get just enough offense and defense to hold off the Panthers. Thomas Messer was 2-for-2 with an RBI, and Christian Sosa was 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI and a run. Trace Norkus also had a double, a run and an RBI, and Tommy Haggerty struck out four in a complete-game effort.

“I think it is great what HSBN is doing and it is an exciting thing to do,” Westminster Manager Nick James said. “A tournament atmosphere in the middle of the season is always fun, and this had a real nice district feel coming in here. They probably don’t know much about us and we don’t know much about them. But we know Brito is a storied program and won the state title last year. They were a tough ball club and really battled, so obviously we were real glad to come out with a win today.”

Christian Crowe also went the distance for Brito, striking out seven in six innings. Luis Nieves collected two hits to lead the offense, and Onelio Perdomo had a solo home run.

(4) Braddock 5, (13) Monsignor Pace 4: The Bulldogs walked-off to victory to represent the highest seed remaining in the Shootout. Willie Padron had a towering home run to right field and Anthony Alvarez struck out six in two relief innings to earn the win for Braddock.

“It was another great win from our guys. What can I say; there aren’t enough words to describe how much dedication and passion our guys are playing with,” Braddock Manager Manny Fernandez said. “Pace is just a phenomenal team and to come over to play them in a night game with the way they’ve been playing the arms we saw today, our guys are really inspired and really believe in themselves. We as a coaching staff couldn’t be any more proud and we hope we can keep playing well throughout the tournament and into the playoffs. We’re glad to be here and be a part of the tournament.”

Andres Sanchez and Jorge Arenas were both 2-for-4 for the Spartans, while Lorenzo Hampton and Eddie Cutillas scored for Pace.

(8) Mater Academy 12, (9) American 0: Tyler Perez struck out five in four innings and reached base three times with two runs to lead the Lions. Danny Reyes led all hitters by going 3-for-4 with an RBI, and Michael Escarra was also 3-for-4. Lazaro Rodriguez went 2-for-3 with four RBIs, and Christian Cabrera and Deyvid Silva were both 2-for-3 with two RBIs.

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