Freshman Aidan O'Dowd pitches against the Largo Tornadoes at Lake Vista Park on April 14. (JAKYRA CHAMPINE | SNN)
By MATTHEW BISCHOFF and TONY RENGIFO
SNN Staff Writers
The Lakewood Spartans faced the Largo Tornadoes on Senior Night (4/13) at Lake Vista Park, dominating the Tornadoes and winning by a score of 12-1.
In the first inning, freshman Aiden O’Dowd, starting for Lakewood, allowed the Tornadoes to score a run.
“Aiden struggled a little bit in that first inning…then he got going,” coach Jayce Ganchou said.
The bottom half of the first featured senior Jaime Robles scoring for the Spartans, tying the score 1-1.
The game heated up in the bottom half of the next inning for the Spartans’ offense, which racked up six runs.
It started with senior Sonny Neuman scoring on a sacrifice fly, Robles hitting a two RBI double bringing in freshmen Jeremy Texel and O’Dowd, followed by seniors Julian Jackson and Robles scoring on a single. The bases were then loaded, making the score 6-1. To finish off the barrage of runs, senior Vinny Grybauskas hit an RBI single, bringing in senior Bo Bichette.
“(The) seniors were involved heavily in scoring and hits,” Ganchou said.
O’Dowd really started to hit his stride when he shut down the Tornado’s offense with a three up, three down, all via strikeout, in the top half of the fourth inning.
“It’s fun to strike people out,” O’Dowd said later.
The Spartans’ offense added another run in the fourth and fifth, increasing their lead to 9-1.
“I didn’t think we’d kill them like we did; last time we only beat them by one,” senior Marcus Bradley said.
O’Dowd, after pitching a solid five innings, was then relieved by junior Sean Thornton in the top half of the inning. Thornton shut down the Tornadoes offense with a fly out and a couple groundouts.
“The longer I get into a game, the better I feel about it, the more confident I am,” O’Dowd said on his pitching performance.
The game would never get to the seventh inning, though, as the Spartans scored enough runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to secure a 10-run mercy rule.
With bases loaded, Bradley doubled to deep center field, bringing in enough Spartans for an 11-1 victory.
“It was my first walk off to end the game. It was a great for senior night,” senior Marcus Bradley said.
The Spartans, now 11-12, will play tonight (4/19) at Lake Vista against the Southeast Seminoles in a Class 5A District 11 tournament playoff matchup. It is a win or go home scenario for both teams, as they both try to go on in the tournament to play in the eventual district championship.
The Senior Night ceremony took place right before the game last week, featuring the six seniors on the team; Jaime Robles, Sonny Neuman, Bo Bichette, Julian Jackson, Vinny Grybauskas, and Marcus Bradley were honored.
Each senior stood on their number, which was painted around the home plate. After walking with their families and having their achievements announced, parents of the seniors lined up in front of the mound and threw a six-way ceremonial first pitch.
“It was a nice ceremony for the seniors,” Ganchou said.
Seniors said it was a night to remember.
“It was very special. … My mom was there and my old coach from Little League was there,” said Bradley, who hit the game-winning mercy rule walk-off double.
