Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Trinity Christian is champion again
FORT MYERS — Trinity Christian has retained Florida’s Class 2A title — and proved itself tops among its namesakes to get it.
Erupting for four runs in the fourth inning and with eighth-grader Irving Carter shrugging off some early jitters to pitch five solid innings, the Lake Worth school downed Deltona Trinity Christian, 8-3, in the state championship game at CenturyLink Sports Complex in Fort Myers on Thursday night.
Carter, already a Miami commit, finished with two runs against him on seven hits and struck out four without a walk — that after the 6-2 right-hander gave up hits to five of his first 10 batters faced.
Peron Butler got out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth, and Christian Mracna shut the door in the seventh to get Carter the win.
After Trinity Christian (22-6) couldn’t get any offense going the first time through the order, the Warriors surged to take a 4-1 lead in the fourth. Shortstop Kaeber Rog hit an RBI single, first baseman David Yourke followed him up with a two-run base hit and a Tyler Hall double to deep left brought home another.
Third baseman B.J. Murray ignited the rally by leading off the inning with a base hit, the first of the game for the Warriors as they were no-hit through three. Deltona’s third baseman couldn’t handle a hot shot off the bat of Angel Tiburcio and the error set Rog up with runners on second and third and nobody out.
After the Eagles (21-9) got a run back in the fifth to pull within two, the Warriors added three insurance runs in the sixth. A Sherson Randt RBI single, a wild pitch that later allowed him to score.
Deltona Trinity Christian roughed up Carter in the early going. Three of the first four batters he faced Thursday hit safely, but he escaped with only one run surrendered. Twice in the second inning, the Eagles had a baserunner thrown out at home — first, Beau Maples, who led off the second with a double, on a grounder to short with the infield in, and then Edel Morales, testing the arm of Tyler Hall on a base hit to center.
Trinity Christian reached Saturday’s final with a run-rule 11-0 victory in five innings over Jacksonville Christ’s Church, the same team the Warriors defeated in last season’s title game.
In regionals semifinals, Trinity edged Miami Brito, 3-2, with Yourke and Tiburcio combining to shut out the Brito offense after the first inning. The Warriors won a 6-0 regional final at Miami Christian to get to state. They dominated District 7-2A play, winning a pair of 10-0 decisions over runner-up Lake Worth Christian, including the district final.
The Warriors challenged themselves with a difficult regular season schedule, which was highlighted by victories over teams from Tennessee and Kentucky, defending Class 3A champs Canterbury and one of two losses Archbishop McCarthy, winners of six state titles in the last seven years, has on the season entering the Mavericks’ state semifinal next Thursday.