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Saladino Tournament, Day 2 at Sickles

 
TAMPA -- The black ink from the pen of Hillsborough assistant coach Leo Dominguez peppered his scorebook in Monday afternoon's game against Middleton at Sickles. Every filled-in black square signifies a run for Hillsborough, which won 25-0 after the game was called in the third inning in a mutual agreement among coaches and umpires. The game got out of control in the bottom of the second inning when the Terriers racked up 21 of their runs. The run total, however, was not a Saladino record in the 36 years of the tournament for a single game, which was set in 2009 when Tampa Bay Tech scored 27. The Terriers' hit total of 17 also fell one short of the tournament record, set by TBT in the same game the Titans scored 27. Hillsborough coach Kenny White said he wasn't trying to pile up the score and he tried to substitute as much as possible. "We had a short bench today because we had some kids out and some kids sick," White said. "We also didn't want to give up any runs because we still want to give us any possible chance of advancing from pool play (tiebreakers are determined by the least amount of runs allowed in the third games). It put us a tough spot."


TAMPA -- The black ink from the pen of Hillsborough assistant coach Leo Dominguez peppered his scorebook in Monday afternoon's game against Middleton at Sickles. Every filled-in black square signifies a run for Hillsborough, which won 25-0 after the game was called in the third inning in a mutual agreement among coaches and umpires. The game got out of control in the bottom of the second inning when the Terriers racked up 21 of their runs. The run total, however, was not a Saladino record in the 36 years of the tournament for a single game, which was set in 2009 when Tampa Bay Tech scored 27. The Terriers' hit total of 17 also fell one short of the tournament record, set by TBT in the same game the Titans scored 27. Hillsborough coach Kenny White said he wasn't trying to pile up the score and he tried to substitute as much as possible. "We had a short bench today because we had some kids out and some kids sick," White said. "We also didn't want to give up any runs because we still want to give us any possible chance of advancing from pool play (tiebreakers are determined by the least amount of runs allowed in the third games). It put us a tough spot."
Published March 15, 2016

TAMPA — Jose Ciccarello was having a frustrating day at the plate Monday afternoon.

The Alonso shortstop and Florida commit — who came into the Ravens' Saladino Tournament matchup with Robinson hitting .475 — had reached base just once, on a wild pitch. He struck out and popped out in his next two at-bats, both of which occurred while the Ravens trailed the Knights by one.

"I was swinging at high pitches," he said. "I just had to lock in and swing at a low one."

Before he could do that, teammate Jordan Butler stepped up and did it for him, picking up the Ravens' spirits with a tying solo shot.

So in the bottom of the seventh, Ciccarello returned the favor.

After Ryan Savitt singled to start the inning and Ryan Mejia walked, Ciccarello stepped up and hit a walkoff RBI double to give Alonso the 4-3 come-from-behind victory, keeping the reigning Saladino championships undefeated in tournament play.

"We just pick each other up. One person's doing bad, we have somebody else to pick us up," Ciccarello said of his big swing. "I struck out, next inning Jordan picked me up with a home run."

And really, the Ravens (10-3) had been doing that for each other all day long, on both sides of the ball.

Ryan Fernandez started on the mound for Alonso, and in the middle innings his pitches got a little wild. Robinson took four bases on wild pitches in the second inning, scoring a run on one to take an early lead.

Alonso took the lead back in the bottom of the frame with RBIs from Peyton Woble and Jared DeSantolo, but the Ravens didn't have it for long. In the third, Fernandez seemed to struggle a little more, and the Knights took advantage, stringing together four hits to take a 3-2 lead on RBIs from Matthew Steckel and Shawn McGory.

Fernandez came out in the sixth inning, and senior Kevin Nunez, who has started many games during his career with the Ravens, came in to close.

And when Alonso needed big pitches the most, Nunez picked his teammates up.

In a tie game, Robinson (9-4) loaded the bases in the seventh with the help of big hits from Steckel and Aaron Scott, but with three on and no outs, Nunez dialed in, retiring the next three Knights in order to get out of the jam unscathed.

That left just enough time for Ciccarello to work his magic.

"I've seen it happen to us a whole bunch of times," Alonso coach Landy Faedo said about the bases-loaded scenario. "Kevin's had a lot of innings pitched for us the past couple of years. His role is a little different for us now, but he did a great job in relief to help us pick up a win."

For Ciccarello, the kind of teamwork his Ravens displayed Monday is just one reason they have what it takes to become repeat champions.

"We've been fighting for this," Ciccarello said. "It would be great to win it again."