Doral’s Viruet, Silver Palms’ Rebhan, St. Brendan’s Acevedo are Dade Softball Coaches of the Year
Willie Viruet got his Doral Academy softball team back to the state title game, one win away from repeating as state champions.
Gator Rebhan and Walter Acevedo respectively got their Somerset Academy Silver Palms and St. Brendan programs to the regional title game, one win away from a berth in the state final four.
The trio led their relatively young teams to immense success this season, setting the foundation to continue to compete for state titles in the immediate future. It’s why they are the Miami Herald’s Miami-Dade Softball Coaches of the Year. Rebhan and Acevedo are splitting the honor for the Class 5A-2A division, while Viruet earns the honor for the Class 7A-6A grouping outright.
Viruet led Doral Academy to a Class 6A state title appearance that ended with a 1-0 loss to Melbourne. His 17-player roster included eight middle schoolers, four freshmen and just one senior.
Of course, that senior was one of the best pitchers in the state in Louisville-bound Alyssa Zabala, the team’s ace for the past four years.
Zabala and timely production from the offense helped Doral go 24-5-1 and outscore opponents 174-36.
Meanwhile, Rebhan and Acevedo had their teams knocking on the door of reaching the state final four — a feat Somerset Silver Palms has never accomplished and St. Brendan hasn’t done since 1990.
Rebhan’s Silver Palms team went 21-5, won a packed District 16-3A that includes the likes of Westminster Christian, Keys Gate and Gulliver Prep, and marched through its first two regional contests against King’s Academy (15-0) and SLAM (5-1) before suffering a narrow 2-1 loss to Coral Springs Charter in the regional finals.
The good news for Rebhan? He only graduates two players from his 15-player roster.
As for Acevedo, he led St. Brendan to an 18-11 record and a runner-up finish in District 16-4A and the No. 6 seed in Region 4-4A. The Sabres then knocked out two district champions — No. 3 regional seed Miami Springs 15-2 in the regional quarterfinals and No. 2 regional seed Plantation American Heritage 6-5 in the regional semifinals — before falling 11-1 to Key West in the regional championship.
