7A-12 Playoff Preview: Park Vista Out In Front

Park Vista has been the No. 2 team in HSBN’s Palm Beach County rankings since the second week of the season, and it comes as no surprise that the rest of 7A-12 is chasing the Cobras heading the district playoff.

The state rankings will make it difficult for any other team to advance to the regional tournament with a loss, so it’s now win-or-go-home time for most of the division — Santaluces could be the exception. A five-team district means that the top three teams will get a bye and the top seed will face whichever team wins the quarterfinal game.

Let’s take a look at each team’s prospects.

7A-12 District Playoff Schedule

Location: Higher seed hosts in quarterfinals; Park Vista hosting semifinals and championship.

Quarterfinals – Monday (5/1)

No. 4 Lake Worth vs. No. 5 Leonard @ 6:30 p.m.

Semifinals – Tuesday (5/2)

No. 1 Park Vista vs. Winner (Lake Worth-Leonard) @ 7:00 p.m.

No. 2 Santaluces vs. No. 3 Forest Hill @ 4:30 p.m.

Finals – Thursday (5/4)

Winner (Semifinal 1) vs. Winner (Semifinal 2) @ 6:30 p.m.

Forest Hill – Team Page

The Falcons might be heating up at the perfect time. Four-straight wins before the district-seeding deadline should help tremendously in securing the No. 3 spot in the division.

Derek Perrin leads the team offensively with a .358 batting average, and he’s shown decent baserunning ability with 23 steals in 24 attempts. Aneudy Rodriguez also has been strong at the plate after working his average up to .333 over with a strong second half to the season.

Jonathan De La Cruz and Alejandro Ortiz are the two most likely to start throughout the playoff run after hurling 83 of the Falcons’ 153.1 total innings. Holding onto a bye is massive for the Falcons and gives them a path to a district championship appearance with just one win.

John I. Leonard – Team Page

Lancers manager Casey Beck has some talent on his team, but the wins haven’t come in bunches this season. Things have been far more competitive for Leonard in the second half of the season, and a one-run loss to Forest Hill is a major improvement over the first matchup between the two teams. Cleaning up the team’s defense will be key, but don’t count the Lancers out!

Senior Sandy Montero leads the team with a .400 batting average, three triples and a home run. Nicholas Hamm is another standout senior, who is batting .378 and has struck out 54 batters as a pitcher over 30 innings. Freshman Victor Garcia has also served as a key two-way player for the team, starting six games on the mound and slashing .383/.589/.532 at the plate.

The future is bright for the Lancers, with Garcia and sophomore Shawn Lopez (.362 AVG; 17 IP) both returning next year. Getting out of the first round of the district playoff would provide some valuable experience for the club.

Lake Worth – Team Page

The Trojans have already lost to Forest Hill (twice), Leonard and Santaluces this season, so taking a game in the playoff tournament might be a tough test this year. That doesn’t mean opposing teams should take it easy against them, though.

Lake Worth is more than capable of putting up six, seven or eight runs on any given night, with four players hitting over .300 and senior Liam Landers leading the way with a .479/.567/.708 line.

Pitching is the bigger question mark. Sterry Martin III has an ERA under 1.00 through 19 innings, but four of his seven appearances have come in relief. One of the four other arms hovering around 15.0 innings pitched this season will have to step up for the Trojans to make noise in May.

Park Vista – Team Page

The Cobras have been one of the top teams in Palm Beach County all season long and are the team to beat in 7A-10. Losses to state No. 1 Douglas (20-0) and county No. 4 Dwyer (14-5-2) aren’t too concerning, but a 5-3 loss to Palm Beach Central (12-10) proves that the Cobras aren’t totally infallible.

Manager Larry Greenstein has created a culture of winning over nearly two decades at Park Vista, so the expectation coming into the playoffs is another championship. History is on the Cobras’ side, too. They have gotten the job done every other year since 2017.

An expected bye in the first round should help keep the top arms fresh for the semifinal and championship games of the tournament.

Santaluces – Team Page

The Chiefs might be the team with the best chance to upset the Cobras with a 13-8-1 record against a decent level of competition. The offense is a plus for this group, with four players hitting above .300 in over 50 at-bats each.

Senior Jerome Mitchell is one of the biggest base-stealing threats in the state with 26 stolen bags in 28 attempts. The three-headed monster of Edinson Cantillo, Taj Start and Brendan O’Hara will lead Santaluces on the mound. The trio has combined for a 2.75 ERA and 69 strikeouts through 95 innings so far this season.

The Chiefs have already proven themselves against most of the division during the regular season, but two regular-season losses to the Cobras still make them an underdog.

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