Unfinished Business: Park Vista Heading Back To State

Austin Smith threw a complete game Tuesday afternoon.

8A Regional Final Photo Gallery

Douglas and Park Vista have met in the regional final the past two years and three times in the past six years. Each time, the Eagles have left on the losing end as the Cobras have blocked them from advancing to the state semifinals for the first time in school history.

The latest victory for Park Vista in this playoff series happened Tuesday as the visiting Cobras took an early lead and held on to win 4-2.

Both teams were prepared to clash for the regional crown. Douglas had its ace, Jesus Luzardo, on the mound, while Park Vista countered with their ace, Austin Smith. Smith entered the game with a 7-1 record and brought a host of scouts with him.

Park Vista (28-2), which won 4-3 last year and also beat Douglas in two games in a best-of-three regional final series in 2009, jumped out early. The Cobras sandwiched a single and a double between two strikeouts in the first inning. This left runners on second and third with two outs. Six-foot-four inch Austin Smith strode to the plate. After taking a strike, Smith poked an outside pitch to the gap in right-center field for a double, plating Matthew Mika and Calvin Smith. This gave Park Vista a 2-0 lead it never relinquished.

“We faced a really good team today, with a very good pitcher. They are tough, and we had seen them last year,” Park Vista Manager Larry Greenstein said. “I am proud of our guys. They had enough to persevere and get the job done today.”

The Cobras added to their lead in the top of the second inning. Tyler Huggins hit a shot down the left-field line for a double. He moved over to third base on an infield out. With one out, Nyle Newland laid down a pretty sacrifice squeeze bunt. A play was made at the plate, but Huggins beat the toss to home by Luzardo.

On a heads-up play, Newland continued from first to second as the Eagles neglected to cover the second-base bag. Newland moved to third on a single to left field by Mika, and then scored when Dakota Julylia  hit a ground ball to shortstop. Eagles shortstop Colton Welker was able to get the lead runner at second, but Julylia beat the throw to first, ensuring the fourth Cobra run.

Nyle Newland celebrates as the Cobras scored their runs early.

“It is hard to spot them four runs early. I thought we had a good plan against a good team like Park Vista,” Manager Todd Fitz-Gerald explained. “We competed. We played hard. The kids left everything on the field. It was a great high school baseball game.”

Douglas ( 23-5) did not give up. The Eagle batters came up in the second inning and made Austin Smith work. After Smith struck out the first two batters of the inning, Blake Bottomley worked a walk on a three and two count. Jesus Luzardo came up and did the same thing, making Smith work hard before giving up a second walk in a row.

Jordan Hill then stepped to the plate and hit a slow roller to third base. Cobras third baseman, Newland, could not make the play and his throw went out of bounds, scoring Bottomley from second base. Smith worked out of the inning and the Cobras led 4-1.

After the second inning, Eagle left-handed pitcher, Luzardo, showed why he is the ace. Luzardo set down 14 Cobras in a row and kept the Douglas Eagles in the chase for the crown. During that scoreless stint, Eagles third baseman Devin Conn had three fielding gems to set down Park Vista in the third inning.

Colton Welker led off the bottom of the third inning with a first-pitch towering shot over the left-field fence, narrowing the score to 4-2.

There would be no more scoring from there. Smith pitched the seventh for a complete-game performance. He allowed a runner to reach base in the last four innings, but his defense stayed solid behind him and helped him keep the Eagles off the board for the rest of the game.

Douglas seemingly started to mount a rally in the bottom of the seventh as Jordan Hill was hit by a pitch. After a strikeout, Yorvis Torrealba was hit by a pitch on the left shoulder by a breaking ball. The home-plate umpire immediately signaled that the batter made no effort to get out of the way.

Park Vista goes back to back as 8A regional champs.

The ruling on the field left Torrealba at the plate with a one-ball, one-strike count. The rally and the game ended when the Cobras second baseman, Julylia, made a sensational double play to seal the victory for the Cobras and sent them back to the FHSAA State Tournament in Fort Myers.

“I wanted that last play to come to me. You always want the play to end the game,” Cobras second baseman Julylia said with a smile. “It feels great that we are moving on to the states, but we are not done. We have more to do.”

Welker had two hits for Douglas. He scored when he hit the big home run in the third. Bottomley was on twice for the Eagles, scoring once in the second. Luzardo pitched seven solid innings. He gave up four runs on seven hits and struck out seven Cobra batters.

Newland scored once for Park Vista. Julylia had one base hit, scored once and made several fine fielding plays to support Smith’s pitching. Austin Smith had the big two-RBI double in the first and  pitched seven strong innings for the Cobras to record the victory.

“These guys are my brothers,” Smith reflected about his teammates. “I pitch with confidence out there on the mound knowing that these guys are like family and they are behind me all the way.”

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