Florida baseball prospect snags diving Catch of the Year to win state semifinal

And you thought the walkoff steal of home was impressive. Not to be outdone, Ocala (Fla.) Trinity Catholic High senior right fielder Sam Atwell hauled in what has to be the catch of the prep baseball season — a walkoff snag that preserved a 2-1 state semifinal victory against Fort Myers Bishop Verot.

As the clock turned past 1 a.m. Thursday morning, Verot senior Gunnar Joslin stepped to the plate with two outs and a runner on second in the bottom of the seventh inning. He drilled a fastball to right-center field that seemed destined to tie the game, but an outstretched Atwell robbed Joslin of extra bases. The catch sent Trinity Catholic to the state championship game and Verot home packing.

"It's a tough pill to swallow, that's for sure," Bishop Verot coach Dave Nelson told The News-Press in Southwest Florida. "Losing 12 seniors, it's very difficult. But what an amazing play by him. We gave ourselves an opportunity to win, which was all we wanted there at the end."

Added the Florida Southern-bound Atwell: ""It was crazy. I thought it was about to be a tie ballgame. That was the fastest I've ever run in my life. That's one of the toughest catches I've ever made."

Check that. That's one of the toughest catches anybody has ever made. Attaboy, Atwell.

(h/t USA Today)