Fourth Time’s A Charm For Jupiter’s District-Title Chase

Mason Doolittle and teammates celebrate his two-run bomb.

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Jupiter against Palm Beach Gardens. It is becoming a tradition in Palm Beach county. For the past three seasons the two have met in the district championship, and this year, other than being bumped up from 8A to 9A, nothing changed. On Thursday night the two old rivals once again went toe-to-toe at Joe Russo Field on Gardens’ campus for the right to wear the crown.

The Warriors came in with the hot hand, having won their final five regular-season games and then two more in the playoffs. The Gators had history on their side, though, as they had come out on top in each of those three previous title games and were looking to make it four in a row. A season-split between the two teams further complicated any attempts to predict the outcome.

When the dust settled, the Warriors left little doubt as to that outcome. They executed in every phase of the game to deliver a 9-0 victory as payback for all those years of being second place. The Warriors’ defense was sterling, their bats punished any and every mistake made by Gator pitchers and their own starter, Kyle McMullen, mowed down the mighty Gardens’ lineup.

“I’m proud of the kids,” Jupiter manager Andy Mook beamed afterwards. “They wanted it and they worked their butts off from the beginning to the end. We had some ups and downs, but they turned it around and they’re playing for each other, so they’re stepping in the right direction.”

For McMullen, stepping in the right direction simply meant to step onto the mound, where it seemed he could do no wrong. He was nearly flawless through six innings of work, showcasing some nice heat and deceiving off-speed stuff to keep the Gators from making any kind of solid contact. Even when they did, the Jupiter defense covered every blade of grass in the outfield and every grain of dirt in the infield, sliding and diving to make plays and back up their pitcher.

“It’s awesome,” McMullen said of the support. “A couple of more hits would have gotten through without them, so it’s nice to know your defense is working behind you.”

Mike Panczak broke up McMullen’s no-no with a base hit in the fifth.

One such hit might have been by Gators right fielder Hunter Holland, who flared a ball into shallow left field in the fourth only to be robbed by Noah Otero-Vargas’s diving catch. Second baseman Ramon Machado also made a pair of highlight-reel plays for the Warriors. In the fifth inning, he dove to his left to snare a ground ball by Sam Prince, then fired a strike to first for the out. In the sixth he stayed with a hot-shot back up the box that caromed off McMullen’s glove, hauled it in, and made a clean throw to strand a couple of Gator baserunners.

Thanks to the stellar defense and seven strikeouts, McMullen made it through his night with only one hit allowed, that being another shot back up the box by Mike Panczak in the fifth. He walked three and hit another with a pitch, but was spotless his first time through the order, not allowing a baserunner until there was one out in the fourth.

After Jupiter’s first four batters were set down in order by Gator starter Grant Patterson, Andrew Martinez lit the first fuse by clobbering a stand-up double. Mason Doolittle then wowed the crowd with a towering shot over the left-field fence to give Jupiter a 2-0 lead.

“I was just locked in, doing my thing,” said Doolittle, who was 3-for-4 with two RBIs. “I just got my pitch and drove it like I should.”

The third inning saw an even bigger explosion by the Jupiter offense. Otero-Vargas started it off with a base hit and Anthony Servideo drove him in for the first of his three RBIs by ripping a triple to the right field fence. After a sacrifice fly by Machado scored Servideo, speedster Reese Albert recorded the first of three infield singles, this one on a perfect bunt down the third-base line. Martinez’s second double in as many at-bats brought Albert around and the Ward brothers teamed up for another run when Tyler singled in Brandyn for a commanding 6-0 lead.

Kyle McMullen’s six innings of one-hit, shutout ball were overshadowed by the Warriors’ big bats.

Servideo struck again in the fifth, sending a ball deep over the center fielder’s head for a two-run double that all but ended the game. In all, the shortstop enjoyed a 3-for-4 performance with a walk and run scored on top of the three RBIs.

“I came into the at bat thinking I can’t be satisfied with what I’ve done so far,” Servideo said about the double in the fifth. “I just had to keep batting like it’s still 0-0 and that’s exactly what I did.”

Legendary Garden’s manager Joe Russo took no solace in the idea that maybe it was finally Jupiter’s turn to win the district. He admitted that the Warriors were the better team on Thursday.

“It would have been nice to win four in a row,” Russo said, “but they played well. They deserved it. They hit the ball, they pitched well, they played great defense and we really just couldn’t get anything going. I give them all the credit.”

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