Late rally is seventh heaven for Madison Park

Giovanni Abreu's line single to center field in the bottom of the seventh capped a six-run rally over the final two innings and gave Madison Park (16-4) an 11-10 victory over Brighton (13-7) yesterday at Boston English High.

"I was just looking for a sacrifice fly, or to get on base," Abreu said. "We've been trying to win [the city championship] for four years, and we finally got it this year."

The Cardinals trailed, 10-5, in the sixth, but four runs in the inning gave them new life. With two on and one out, Abreu reached on a throwing error, which scored Alfred Santana. Joan Figueroa came home on a wild pitch, and Joab Fuertes singled home two more with a line single to left.

Abreu promptly retired the side in order in the top of the seventh, setting up the decisive rally.

William Miranda led off with a single, and Santana followed with a walk. Figueroa's hit to center tied the score, and Abreu completed the comeback with a solid hit to center.

"This wasn't the first time we've been down and come back," said Madison Park coach Michael Viggiano. "We didn't give up one iota."

Early on, the game was back and forth. Brighton took the lead in the first on Jonathan Mateo's RBI double, but Madison Park went ahead, 2-1, in the bottom of the inning on Fuertes's two-run single.

The Cardinals added another run in the second when Santana's ground out scored Miranda.

The Bengals took the lead again in the third. Lorenzo Cruz doubled down the right-field line with one out, and he scored on Yohancy Nova's single three batters later. Both Nova and Joel Cabrera scored in the inning on wild pitches, giving Brighton a 4-3 edge.

Madison Park tied the score again in the bottom of the inning, when Fuertes drove in Jamil Moquete with a single.

"You're not going to win a lot of games blowing leads," said Brighton coach Bill Mahoney. "But give them credit. We knocked them down, and they came back to beat us."

Errors were a common theme throughout, as Brighton went back ahead in the fourth on another Madison Park miscue. After a wild pitch, catcher Jeffrey Santana's throw to third base sailed high, and Jonathan Rosa scored to give Brighton a 5-4 lead.

Madison Park tied things again in the fifth before Brighton struck for five runs in the sixth. The first six batters reached, with the key hit being Cruz's bases-clearing double, which gave Brighton a 10-5 edge.

Fuertes, who had five RBIs on the day, missed the past four games after taking a ball off his eye in practice, Viggiano said.

Nova started the game on the mound for Brighton, going five innings and surrendering five runs. Freddy Soto pitched the last two innings, giving up the final six runs.

The Cardinals' starter was Shawn Bradley, who pitched five innings and gave up seven runs.

Viggiano said winning the city championship was a goal for his team, and it gives his players a lot of confidence heading into the state tournament.

"These kids are sky-high," he said. "I don't think there's any feet out here touching the ground today."