By JIM LINETTE, jlinette@breezenewspapers.com POSTED: March 5, 2010 Save | The Island Coast Gators had to come from behind three separate times before claiming an 8-7 victory over Bishop Verot on a suicide squeeze play in the eighth inning Thursday night.

Two of those comebacks were in the first three innings, but the third was a character-builder. It started in the fifth inning when Verot’s D.J. Judge hit a high fly ball down the left field line that Gators left fielder Nelson Candelaria appeared to glove as he dove and rolled over in the grass. He popped up on his knees and held the ball up in his bare hand, but a delayed call by the home plate umpire ruled Judge, standing on second base by that time, safe.

Back-to-back hits by Thomas Dougherty and Josh Garcia produced two runs and the Vikings added one more before the inning was over to go up 6-3.

“I told the kids to focus on the game,” said Gators coach Clinton Montgomery. “Take it one at-bat at a time.”

That’s what the Gators did. They got one of those runs back in the fifth on Ryan Manka’s RBI single to right. With two out and the bases loaded, they were one hit away from tying the game, but had to wait until the seventh to complete the third comeback.

After Verot scored once in the seventh to take a 7-4 lead, the Gators rallied for three in the bottom of the inning to send it into an extra inning.

A Verot throwing error started the game-tying rally. Cameron Gellinger beat out an infield single and Manka (2-for-3, 3 RBI) doubled to drive in one run. With two out, Pablo Matos lofted a fly ball to center field that was dropped allowing two runs to score tying the game at 7-7.

“The wheels just came off as we made a couple of key errors,” said Vikings coach Tom LoSauro. “To Island Coast’s credit they took advantage of the opportunities they were given.”

In the eighth, Jordan Moody (2-for-3) lead off with a single, Gellinger walked and Taylor Reneger singled to load the bases.

With one out, Kyle Harding executed the suicide squeeze play to produce the game-winning run.

“The last two innings we just played station-to-station baseball,” said Montgomery.

The Vikings (2-3) host St. Thomas Aquinas at noon on Saturday. The Gators (5-3) are idle until next Thursday when they entertain Dunbar.

B. Verot 120 030 10 – 7 8 4

I. Coast 201 010 31 – 8 10 1

W – Kyle Harding. L – Andrew Chebator.

2B – Ryan Manka (IC), D.J. Judge (BV), Josh Garcia (BV). 3B – Frank Romano (BV).

Softball

Bishop Verot 16, Island Coast 0: Paris Prusak collected three hits, including a triple, and scored two runs to help lead Bishop Verot to victory at Island Coast Tuesday night.

Taylor Kramer and Katie Clinger each contributed two hits in the Vikings’ 14-hit assault. Pitcher Allie Mitchell struck out eight and allowed four hits over five innings to earn the win.

The Vikings (3-4) host Sarasota Christian Friday.

Bishop Verot 601 81 – 16 14 1

Island Coast 000 00 – 0 4 3

W – Allie Mitchell.

2B – Jordan Hendrix (BV). 3B – Paris Prusak (BV), Allie Mitchell (BV), Taylor Kramer (BV), Kelsey McCurdy (BV).

Oasis 13, Evangelical Christian 10: Oasis recorded the first varsity softball victory in school history Tuesday in a come-from-behind win over Evangelical Christian.

ECS opened an 8-4 lead before the Sharks struck for eight runs in the fourth inning to take control.

Mallory Guerrero contributed two hits and was the winning pitcher for the Sharks (1-1), who are idle until March 16.

Oasis 103 810 0 – 13

Evangelical Christian432 101 0 – 10

W – Mallory Guerrero. L – West.

Girls Tennis

Cape Coral 7, Cypress Lake 0: Cape High swept its match with Cypress Lake Thursday to improve to 2-4 heading into the next match with North Fort Myers on March 12.

Singles – Emily Potts (CC) def. Alona Pidgorna 7-5, 2-6, 1-0; Aimee Dolorfino (CC) def. Maura Dowling 6-3, 6-1; Kaitlyn Dampier (CC) def. Savannah Williams 6-0, 6-1; Myra Adu-Sarkodie (CC) def. Maura Lodes 6-0, 6-0; Brooke Blythe (CC) def. Erin Miller 6-0, 6-0.

Doubles – Dolorfino-Danielle Kaminski (CC) def. Dowling-Savannah Young 8-4; Blythe-Potts (CC) def. Pidgorna-Williams 8-4.

Bishop Verot 6, Fort Myers 1: Bishop Verot manhandled arch-rival Fort Myers Tuesday dropping just two sets along the way.

The Vikings (4-0) host Naples on Tuesday.

Singles – Linda Kornienko (BV) def. Emma Joslyn 6-1, 6-3; Mariel Rickert (BV) def. Shanda Kumar 6-1, 6-0; Nia-Marie Eddie (BV) def. Katelyn Dorwart 6-2, 6-4; Kathleen Norris (BV) def. Natalie Underberg 6-1, 6-3; Vaughn Hayduk (FM) def. Kayla Cheslosky 6-2, 6-3.

Doubles – Kornienko-Rickert (BV) def. Joslyn-Kumar 8-4; Eddie-Norris (BV) def. Dorwart-Underberg 8-2.