Lake Minneola bats, Maddux Bultema’s arm send rival South Lake packing
Lake Minneola’s bats woke up in a big way Friday, and Maddux Bultema’s pitching arm was too much for South Lake. The Hawks homered four times and Bultema struck out five as Minneola ended its rival’s season with an 11-1, five-inning, run-rule victory in the Class 6A, District 5 championship game Friday night . Shortstop Fabian Antonsanti started the fireworks with an opposite-field dinger to lead off the Minneola half of the first, and it ignited a flurry.
Minneola took advantage of back-to-back hit batsmen in the second and Bultema helped himself with a two-run double as the Hawks built a 5-0 lead after two innings. RJ Martell homered in the third and then Antonsanti smashed another leadoff homer in the fourth inning. Antonsanti crushed his second dinger and he knew it was gone immediately, tossing the bat in the air before he got to his third step.
That was followed by three straight singles and then a 3-run long ball from Colson May and the Hawks were on their way to their seventh straight regional qualification. Lake Minneola coach Dr. Kerry Whetro was pleased with the offensive output, and it was an exhibition he had not seen this season.
It comes with perfect timing in the heat of the playoffs. “This could have been a school record, four home runs, and we had three or four extra-base hits. Yeah, we hit the ball well,” Whetro said of the Hawks, who had 11 hits.
“It’s coming at a good time. “The guys have been working hard. They put extra time in and we had some good batting practices this week.