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By Robert Balajadia

Southern Dolphins Cody Terlaje rounds third base heading for home to complete the in the park home run. (photo by Joey Blas)

The Southern Dolphins made sure the third time was a charm after defeating the JFK Islanders 5-1 in the boys high school quarterfinals Saturday morning. The Dolphins came in as the lower seed and had dropped both their regular season meetings against the Islanders.

“No, we weren’t going to let it happen again. That was our mentality heading into the game. The boys really came out and showed that they wanted it this time around,” stated Dolphins’ Billy Quenga on the win.

Southern got off to a quick start by capitalizing on the early JFK errors. Quenga hit a grounder that slipped through the Islanders infield while bringing in Nicholas Sablan for the games first run in the first inning.

Cody Terlaje hit a single to bring in Quenga to go up 2-0.

Terlaje then ignited the crowd in the top of the third inning by slamming an in-the-park home run to stretch the lead 3-0. The Islanders had trouble getting on base until much later in the game.

Quenga did most of his damage at the mound earning 6K’s for the day, but also contributed by pulling in an RBI double in the top of the 6th inning to go up 4-0 after both teams hit a dry spell.

“I told myself to keep calm and keep doing what I’ve been doing for the longest time, which is playing baseball,” said Quenga.

The Islanders were facing a 5-0 hole in the bottom of the seventh until Degracia hit a triple to give life to a deflated Islander offense. Degracia would score the Islanders only run on a pitching error a play later to avoid the shutout.

Islanders starting pitcher Jeff Lizama ended the day with 3K’s and Dolphins’ Mark Parks came in for Quenga to close the game while earning 2K’s.

The Dolphins will play the winner of eighth seeded GW vs. top seeded FD, which was rescheduled due to rain.

When asked if it mattered who the Dolphins would rather face between the two, Quenga responded with saying,

“It doesn’t matter who we challenge because I trust my teammates and we all trust in each other. Every team in this league is beatable and that’s the mentality we have to have in order to keep going.”

PHOTO GALLERY BROUGHT TO YOU BY:

Southern Dolphins Tamisha Fejeran drives a ball to second base and was thrown out at first to end the inning. (photo by Joey Blas)

Southern Dolphins Billy Quenga delivers a pitch in the third inning against JFK. (photo by Joey Blas)

Islanders’ Jeff Lizama Delivers a pitch against Southern Dolphins. (photo by Joey Blas)

Southern Dolphins Cody Terjaje drives a single to left field against JFK Islanders. (photo by Joey Blas)

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