Game ends in tie due to darkness
At the end of the beloved baseball movie Bull Durham, Tim Robbins’ character gets called up to the Major League team, and tells a reporter, “It’s a very simple game. ... Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes it rains.”
Sometimes the field has no lights and the game is called on account of darkness.
Calvary Christian and Trinity Christian ran out of time to decide a winner on Friday night. They ended the 10th inning scoreless, and without lights, the umpires ended the game in a 4-4 tie.
“It’s a Broward County rule,” Calvary Christian coach Gil Morales said. “None of us have ever done that before. I’ve never had that happen in 20 years.”
Both teams had opportunities to seal the game. The Eagles had a narrow lead for most of the game after catcher Rene Lastres hit a solo home run in the second inning. Calvary had ace pitcher Andy Painter, one of the top-ranked high school pitchers in the nation, on the mound, and he pitched five scoreless innings.
However, sophomore Trinity Christian pitcher Pierce Boles matched Painter through five innings. He gave up one run on the homer, but he allowed only three hits and struck out eight batters.
“We knew what we were facing,” Trinity Christian coach Miguel Cuello said. “They didn’t know what they were facing. So it was like, ‘OK, now this turned into a game.’ ”
Painter gave up one hit in the second inning and retired the next 12 hitters he faced. But Trinity Christian got to him in the sixth. Catcher Ryan Marrero and center fielder DeShaugn Forbes hit backto-back singles, and shortstop Ariel Antigua drove them both in with a single that snuck through the left side of the infield.
The Warriors’ lead was shortlived, as Calvary shortstop Alex Ulloa hit a solo home run to tie the game in the bottom half of the frame.
Painter returned for the seventh inning and allowed one more unearned run. He finished the game with seven innings pitched, three runs (two earned) on four hits and 11 strikeouts.
“He was electric,” Morales said. “We made a couple mistakes behind him, and you can’t do that.”
Calvary fought back in the bottom of the seventh and tied the game again on a two-out hit by infielder Abe Rozenblum.
The game went to extra innings, and the Warriors jumped ahead again. Trinity went ahead 4-3 on a bases-loaded walk to first baseman Matt Ossenfort, but the Warriors couldn’t add to their lead. That came back to bite them when Calvary right fielder Kyle Tako tied the game with a sacrifice fly.
“That’s everything we’re taking [from this game],” Morales said. “When you get to the last part of your season, the character of the team starts to show. And what I saw tonight is we’re going to fight. We’re going to fight to the end, and that’s all you can ask for.”
Neither team could put a run on the board in the game’s final two innings. In the bottom of the 10th, Calvary loaded the bases with two outs after Cuello elected to intentionally walk Lastres. Brandon Delapenha hit a ground ball up the middle, which Trinity Christian second baseman Eduardo Morel bobbled. But Morel flipped the ball to Antigua fast to get the force out, ending the inning and the game.
“I thought that was it right there,” Morales said.
Ties in baseball at any level are rare, but Cuello thinks even tying the nationally ranked Eagles is a positive for his team.
“It’s odd, but for us, it’s almost like a little win,” Cuello said. “We’re facing one of the best pitchers in the country, I guess — guy’s going to get drafted high in the rounds. To come in and get a few runs and stay in the game is big for us.”