Lakewood Ranch claims district championship

LAKEWOOD RANCH — Sophomore Justin Greenaway wanted one last chance to prove himself.

Senior Bryan Vanvranken wanted to leave a lasting legacy in his first season with the Mustangs.

And Lakewood Ranch coach Mike Mullen wanted to shut the door on a team that had beaten his Mustangs in the district championship the past two seasons.

All three got their wish April 27, as the host Mustangs came from behind to defeat Seminole Osceola 6-5 in the Class 6A-District 12 championship, giving Mullen his first district title since taking over as Lakewood’s head coach five years ago.

After keeping the Warriors scoreless in the top of the eighth inning, relief pitcher Brad Zunica drew a walk and advanced to third base on a sacrifice bunt and a ground out.

After Seth McGarry was issued an intentional walk, Greenaway came up with his second clutch hit of the night, hitting a hard single to centerfield to win the game.

“I knew this is my chance to step up,” Greenaway said. “I’m a sophomore, playing varsity. They put the bat in my hand and guess what? I came up clutch.

“It means a lot to our coach,” Greenaway said. “He’s been here for a good five years, and he really wanted this, and so did we. We knew we could come back. We stayed strong, played together as a team and won.”
With the win, Lakewood won its first district title since 2003, when the Mustangs went on to capture the program’s only state title.

“It’s my first district title in five years,” Mullen said. “It feels good to get it out of the way. Now, it’s time to move on. Now, anything can happen.”

Trailing 5-3 in the bottom of the seventh, the Mustangs never lost sight of their goal — helping their coach win his first district title.

Greenaway smacked a double, and Zack Larson hit an infield single before Vanvranken, who hit a two-run home run, his first of the season, in the bottom of the second inning, hit a two-out, two-run double to tie the game at 5-5.

“You just want the next one in the field,” Vanvranken said. “We know that one through nine, we’ve got good hitters, and everyone can do a job — just get us back in the dugout and we’ll hit.

“It’s a big family like we say at every practice,” Vanvranken said. “We can all play together and enjoy playing out here. I love playing with these guys. I’ve played with them since I was young, so it’s a lot of fun playing with them and winning a district title my senior year.”

The Mustangs took a 3-1 lead on Vanvranken’s two-run home run and a home run by McGarry before the Warriors scored four runs in the top of the fifth inning on a pair of walks and a few uncharacteristic errors.
At that point, Mullen brought in Dom Leone in relief of Brandon King to put a stop to Seminole Osceola’s rally.

“He’s my stopper,” Mullen said. “I bring that kid in whenever I need to just shut the door. He’s got one of the best breaking balls I’ve coached, and he just shut the door.

“The magic happened in the seventh inning,” Mullen said. “We just played the game the right way. Greenaway is a young kid, who is only a sophomore, but he has been doing a great job for us. He had a couple clutch hits for us tonight.”

As the District 12 champion, Lakewood will play host to District 11 runner-up Tampa Sickles in a Class 3A-Region 3 quarterfinal May 3.

“We’ve got five more games to focus on and that’s all that matters now,” Vanvranken said. “We’ve got this to put in our rear view mirror just to know it’s there and now we’ve got to go after the next one. Now its win or go home.”

THE OUT-OF-DOOR ACADEMY
The Out-of-Door Academy baseball team had a district championship in its sights.

But baseball is a game of ups and downs and momentum shifts, and the Thunder learned first-hand how one misplaced pitch or one overthrown ball could propel the game in an entirely different direction.

Holding a 5-3 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning, the host Thunder watched rival Cardinal Mooney score three unanswered runs in the top of the sixth inning en route to a 6-5 victory in the Class 3A-District 10 championship.

“It’s part of baseball,” coach Billy Dietrich said. “It’s how you handle adversity. We played a great game. We had our chances, and we took care of them. We played great. I’m so proud of them. We had 19 wins this year. Back-to-back playoff appearances for the first time in school history, and we’re not done.

“The kids played lights-out tonight, and they played it the right way,” Dietrich said. “I think we sent a message to everyone that we would play anyone. It doesn’t matter. I’m so impressed with these kids. They’ve come a long way. They work hard and do things the right way. They are great kids.”

ODA (19-4) came out swinging in the first inning. Tyler Dietrich drew a walk and Zach Hoppe singled and stole second base. Desmond Lindsay drove in Dietrich and Justin Fischer hit a RBI single, giving the Thunder an early 2-0 lead.

The Thunder extended its lead on a RBI single by Carson Jungers and extended their lead in the bottom of the fifth inning after Lindsay and Fischer were both hit by pitches to walk in runs.

The lead proved to be short-lived. The Cougars mounted a comeback, stringing together four hits with two outs in the inning to take their first lead of the night.

As the District 10 runner-up, ODA traveled to District 9 champion St. Pete Catholic for a Class 3A-Region 3 quarterfinal May 2. The winner will face the winner of the other regional quarterfinal between Cardinal Mooney and Calvary Christian.

“Funny things happen,” Billy Dietrich said. “If we take care of business on Wednesday and they do, then we’ll see them again. It’s a funny game.”

Contact Jen Blanco at [email protected].