BOCA RATON – It was easy yesterday afternoon (May 11) for the St. John Paul II baseball team.
The Eagles (22-4) blew by the King’s Academy Lions (13-7 final record) in an 8-3 home win that was decided in the early going. They took a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning and cruised from there.
The star of yesterday’s Class 3A-Region 3 semifinal game may have been Eagles sophomore catcher Dom Rivara, who belted out a single that produced two runs batted in the bottom of the sixth inning for the final score.
With the win, St. John Paul II will move on to the 3A-Region 3 final on Wednesday, May 19. The next opponent will be John Carroll Catholic (17-10) on the road.
“This game, we jumped on them early,” Rivara said. “We fought hard, kept the lead, battled on defense, and kept them to a low amount of runs. We were right back at it in the last inning there. We were locked in the whole game.”
With King’s Academy looking for a late rally with just a 6-3 deficit, Rivera took it upon himself to extinguish any hopes for the road team to come back.
“I just went up to the plate,” Rivara said. “I was just looking to get the guys home. There were two outs and two strikes on me. I was just looking to fight there and get the ball in play. I did my job by getting two runs to score. It was crazy.”
Rivara spoke on the team’s strategy going into the King’s Academy game.
“We weren’t trying to do too much,” Rivara said. “We just wanted to put the ball in play and get some hits. We weren’t trying to hit the ball too far. It worked. We got the job done.”
Rivara on what it takes to reach the 3A State Final Four in Fort Myers:
“We just gotta to stay locked in,” Rivara said. “If we keep doing what we’re doing, we’ll make it big and do good there.”
CLASS 2A – REGION 4 SEMIFINAL ROUND
Due to an FHSAA ruling, Trinity Christian Academy (15-7-2) will advance to the 2A-Region 4 final round on Saturday, May 15. As a result of this ruling, the season officially ends for Jupiter Christian (10-12).
No word yet on who the next opponent will be for Trinity Christian Academy. We will know more later tonight.
