Ramirez Pitches Southeast To 3A-11 Baseball Crown

Thelma Meyers never complained about all the pitching that she did, so her grandson, Andy Ramirez, was not about to let fatigue get in the way of the baseball program's fourth district championship.

The last of Ramirez's 131 pitches on Thursday night eluded Cardinal Mooney first baseman Jason Sierra's bat and enabled the Seminoles to celebrate a 2-0 victory in the Class 3A-District 11 title game. As players converged upon the mound and engulfed Ramirez, Meyers most likely never lost sight of her grandson as she looked down upon Southeast's home field.

"I just went out there and just gave it my all," Ramirez said. "It was all for my grandma. It's been a long time since we won districts. This is our dream. We were going to try our best."

Meyers, who passed away earlier this year, was the first one to teach baseball to her grandson. They would watch the Cleveland Indians together and play for hours in the yard.

"She meant the world to me," Ramirez said. "She introduced me to the game of baseball. She was always there for me."

After Ramirez worked himself out of jams in each of the first three innings, the Seminoles used three singles and two errors to plate the game's only runs in the fourth. Mark Christy drove in catcher Joey Muldoon with a lined single to center field, and Josh Gordon scored when Matt Fenske reached on a two-out error.

Ramirez, a senior right-hander, was aided by two Cardinal Mooney base running gaffes in the bottom of the first. Danny Lee was caught between first and second after a leadoff single, while Zach Giczewski turned Bryan Van Vranken's fly out into a double play by getting too far from second base.

The Cougars' Nick Bisplinghoff reached on an error to start the bottom of the third. Lee and Giczewski followed with singles to load the bases, but Ramirez rallied to strike out Sierra and induce a pair of fly outs to freshman second baseman Dalton Vestal.

Ramirez (5-1) allowed six hits, walked two, hit a batter and recorded 12 strikeouts over seven innings. He struck out at least two batters, including the side in the seventh, in five of the final six innings.

The 12th strikeout came after Lee and Giczewski drew two-out walks.

"He's a warrior out there," Southeast head coach Dan Durrance said. "He just really works hard. You could tell that he wanted to finish the game."

Ramirez feels that his resolve was apparent early when hitting pitches delivered by his grandmother with a wiffle ball bat.

"I would be hitting all day," Ramirez said. "She was always playing games with me."

Now, the Seminoles (17-9) are looking to play more games. The Class 3A-Region 3 playoffs will begin on Tuesday against the loser of Friday night's District 12 championship game between Fort Myers Bishop Verot and Island Coast.

As the top seeded team in the district, Cardinal Mooney (20-5) was the home team on Thursday despite Southeast being the tournament’s host school. The Cougars could find themselves back at the Seminoles’ park for a region semifinal game if they can beat the District 12 champion on Tuesday.