Jupiter Wins Third Consecutive District Championship

The 2024 District 7A-11 champion Jupiter Warriors.

The Jupiter Warriors keep rewriting their own history books. After setting a program record by wining back-to-back district titles the past two seasons, the Warriors made it a three-peat by winning the District 7A-11 championship on Thursday night. Three was the magic number, as junior Ryan Senecal connected for a three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to walk the Warriors off with a 9-6 victory.

The storybook finish came with two on and two out, with Senecal down to his final strike. Jake Finnegan was hit by a pitch and Colton Schwarz walked to put some base runners on for Senecal, who had a 2-2 count when he sent the next offering over the left field fence to win the game.

“Tonight was an awesome victory,” Jupiter Manager Kyle Young said. “We had a battle. We were down. We made some errors. But they battled and they didn’t give up. They work, and they grind it out. So in the bottom of the seventh, we had an opportunity.”

Besides a nice new trophy for the display case, Jupiter (20-7) also earned an automatic berth into the regional playoffs. The Warriors will wait for the final state rankings to be released to set the field and determine which team they will next play in the regional quarterfinal round.

Tuesday’s finale was a classic tug-of-war, neither side able to pull away with the lead. Jupiter went ahead early on thanks to a grand-slam home run from Gavin Marchese in the bottom of the second, but the Wolverines (13-14) battled back to eventually go ahead 6-5 following three runs in the top of the sixth. Ari Buckstein and Christian Goncalves both walked and Trevor King was hit by a pitch to load the bases with two outs in the sixth, and Jhon Abreu came through with a two-RBI single that tied things back up. Lucas Bratten then put the Wolverines ahead with an RBI single to left.

Jupiter punched back with a run in the bottom of the sixth that evened things back up to set the stage for the dramatic conclusion.

“For some of our guys that have been with the program, this is their third district championship,” Young said. “For a lot of the younger guys, it’s their first taste of it. You know, they were hungry. We’ve had our goals all year set on getting to Fort Myers, but this is the first step.”

Jake Finnegan also went deep for the Warriors, with a solo home run in the fifth.

“Were looking forward to the rankings coming out tomorrow,” Young said. “But, I’m super proud of our guys. We’ve worked hard. Each day, when they come to practice, they are wanting to get better, wanting to work hard, with one goal in mind to make it to Fort Myers. This is just the first step. So, we are looking forward to putting in some work this weekend, and going back to work on Tuesday, and hopefully Friday, and then flip back to the following week.”

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