Coral Reef puts 10-run mercy rule on Palmetto to advance in state softball tournament

The day after his softball team had gotten smoked by Palmetto in the GMAC championship game three weeks ago, Coral Reef head coach Dario Rodriguez very deliberately took the Miami Herald article the next day, cut it out and pasted it up on the wall of his locker room.

“I just wanted them to see it every day and to remember how it felt to get beaten down like that by our district rival,” said Rodriguez. “Everything has changed since. These girls have been a different bunch.”

That was roundly affirmed on Tuesday afternoon. One week after overcoming an early 7-1 deficit to come back and beat Palmetto in the district title game, the Barracudas needed no such drama on this day.

Thanks to a seven-run third inning and solid pitching performance from Briana Romaguera, the Barracudas cruised to a shockingly easy 10-0, six-inning mercy rule victory over Palmetto in a Region 4-9A semifinal at Coral Reef High School.

Reef advances to the regional final for the second consecutive year where the Barracudas will either host Coral Gables or travel to American on Friday. The American/Gables game was rained out on Tuesday and was rescheduled for Wednesday at 10 a.m.

The game marked the seventh consecutive year Reef and Palmetto have met in the regional semis. It’s the fifth time and second straight year the Barracudas have prevailed.

Jenice Casanes was the offensive star for Reef and did all of her damage in the seven-run third. She led off the inning with a home run over the left-center field fence and, after he team batted around, returned 20 minutes later and drilled a 2-RBI double to finish off the inning, chasing Palmetto starter Latricia Richardson.

Meanwhile, Romaguera did something rarely done to Palmetto: Shut them out. Even though she walked five batters and hit one, she gave up just two infield hits and managed to work her way out of a couple of jams.

Palmetto put two on with nobody out in the first but worked her way out of it. The Panthers then put two on in the fourth and fifth innings but were two-out rallies and Romaguera induced fly outs to end those two innings.

“I just focused on every pitch, pitched to contact and let them hit the ball,” said Romaguera. “I knew my defense would be there for me and they were.”

The Barracudas finished the game off an inning early when, after a leadoff hit by Natalia Boix followed by a hit batter and walk, got consecutive RBI singles from Cassidy Stouffer, Romaguera and the Gigi Stouffer.

Reef also prevented a Palmetto comeback — something they did not do when they blew a 10-0 lead in a regular season game and then did to Palmetto in the district title matchup.

“We all basically got together and said ‘we’re not going to let them do to us what we did to them and what happened to us earlier in the year,’ ” said Casanes. “We were going to put our foot down and the nail in the coffin which is what we did today.”

Said Rodriguez: “I had a feeling we’d be OK this time once we got the big lead. The girls know all about this team and themselves and knew that no lead for either side was safe so they stayed focused all the way until we got that final walkoff hit from Gigi.”