Clutch hitting, pitching power Longhorns to 4-3 regional playoff win

Clayton Williams broke up a 1-1 tie with a two-run single in the fifth inning, and Ashton Maggorian pitched 3 1/3 innings of two-hit ball to lead the Harmony Longhorns to a 4-3 win over Treasure Coast in a Class 7A, Region 3 quarterfinal game Tuesday at Longhorn Field.

In posting the 10th win in its last 13 games, Harmony moves to 17-11 and will play at top-seeded Jupiter at 6 p.m. Friday night in a regional semifinal. It was Harmony’s first regional win in at least a decade.

“Tonight was a great example of what I love about this team,” Harmony Coach Heath Williams said. “We had a lot of opportunities to score early in this game and we just weren’t getting that big hit. Despite the frustration, no one was getting down, and no one lost confidence, they just gutted it out.”

In the first four innings, Harmony put seven runners in scoring position with less than two outs but managed to plate just one run with that coming in the third on Ashton Fayne’s sacrifice bunt that scored Angel Medina. Harmony missed out on a big inning when Yathniel Matos singled to load the bases, but Sam Castillo just missed a grand slam when he flew out to the wall in left-center to end the inning.

Pitcher Evan Christ, who threw five innings of shutout ball against Osceola in the district championship last week, threw just one inning although he struck out two and did not allow a hit.

“We normally would stretch out starts, but we are down a starting pitcher to injury so we went with Evan. But he had a pretty intense outing against Osceola last week and said he was experiencing some tightness,” Williams said. “So out of precaution, we weren’t going to send him out for another inning.”

Maggorian was more than up to the challenge. His only trouble came in the third inning when he walked the leadoff hitter and then allowed a single. After a double steal, Bobby Johnson delivered a sacrifice fly to tie the score at 1-1 and Jacob Sauzo followed with a single. A stolen base put runners on second and third. With one out and the infield playing in, Fayne made a sensational stop on Ray Missett’s hard hit ball, held the runner at third and retired Missett at first for the second out. Maggorian struck out clean-up hitter Logan Zavela to end the threat.

That set up the Longhorns’ game winning rally in the fifth for the Horns. Castillo doubled and Iziah Santiago reached on an error and moved to second on a stolen base. Williams then delivered his single to make it 3-1 and Jose Scrofani’s sacrifice fly knocked in another run.

Williams, who has been swinging a hot bat of late, had two more hits in raising his season average to .373, said he was simply trying to find a way to help his team.

“We’re fighters and we trust the guy on our left and we trust the guy on our left,” the junior said. “With runners in scoring position, I was just looking for a ball I could drive and get the runners home.”

Treasure Coast fought back in the sixth. Zavala opened with a walk and Pat Tavarez followed with a towering home run to center off reliever Ismeal Rivera to make it 4-3.  Rivera would hit the next batter, who ended up advancing to third on a balk and a wild pitch. 

With the tying run on third and no outs, Rivera responded by striking out the side. In the top of the seventh he retired the leadoff hitter on a groundout and then punched out Sauzo and Missett to end the game and pick up the save. He finished with six strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings, allowing just the one hit on the home run.

“He’s been so valuable to us this season and I am so glad he’s only a junior,” Williams said of Rivera and his performance. “We use him a lot and in a lot of different situations and he just always seems to respond to pressure situations. He just throws strikes.”