Heritage Edges Newman To Win 4A-13 Title

American Heritage won the 4A-13 title Friday.

American Heritage-Delray lost three games this season on walkoffs, starting the regular season with one and ending it with another. This time, the Stallions did a little walking off of their own Friday to beat Cardinal Newman for their first district title since 2012.

Heritage won when Dylan Gordon singled in Nate Zimmerman for the winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning, as the Stallions earned the 4A-13 championship. Heritage will next host Somerset in a regional quarterfinal Wednesday. Newman will travel to Calvary Christian the same day.

“We never gave up,” Heritage Manager Carm Mazza said. “We got out early and Newman battled back, and it was a dogfight the whole way.”

Heritage got three hits in a row from its seven, eight and nine hitters in the bottom of the eighth to win the game.

Cardinal Newman forced extra innings with a home run by Carson Powell in the top of the seventh.

The Stallions took a 3-2 advantage in the fifth when Hunter Bowling smacked a base hit to bring in Jonathan India.

The Crusaders evened it at two with a pair of runs in the fourth inning. Luis Besteiro singled to score German Torres, and then pinch-runner Joe Yupp came home on a wild pitch.

Heritage-Delray led off the game with a home run by Tyler Frank, who singled to score Justin Barney an inning later.

Bowling was the winning pitcher, after he came on in relief in the fifth inning.

“He did a good job,” Mazza said. “He got ahead of hitters and had five strikeouts and a walk.”

The Stallions Zimmerman went 2-for-4, as did Brendan Brundage. Torres went 2-for-3 as the only Newman player with multiple hits.

Newman Manager Sam Howell praised the effort his team put forth with its never-say-die attitude.

“We played our butts off,” Howell said. “We’ve played real well the past three weeks. They gave the max effort. The game could have gone either way. We gave them all they could handle. We’ve had to learn how to win, and we’re playing our best ball right now.”

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