The curse lives: Park Vista baseball stumbles at state after lightning delay

FORT MYERS – The "curse" of Park Vista baseball came roaring back at the sound of a lightning delay siren on Tuesday in Fort Myers.

A 30-minute weather delay saw the Cobras go from a two-run sixth inning lead to a heartbreaking 5-4 loss to the Plant Panthers in the Class 7A state semifinals.

Vista finished the season 22-4-1, but they just as easily could’ve gone 23-4-1. Better yet, 24-4 – and back to Lake Worth with the program’s first state championship in tow.

The will to win was evident from the first pitch. Power 5 prospect Ethan Mattison was dealing on the mound, seeing three Panthers up and three down. When Cobra bats came to face Plant’s Robert Satin, Joseph “JoJo” Calise pocketed a triple in the deepest point of Hammond Stadium.

Even after two second inning errors saw Plant score first with a slide into home plate for Satin, Vista was unshaken.

By the end of the fourth inning, a Plant error would help Anthony Espinoza delete the deficit with a diving score of his own before Ryan Brown’s base-hit RBI scored Will Bavaro and Jason Lashley for a 3-1 lead.

The other half of the Lashley twins, Matt, bunted to bring home his brother, Jason, for what then-appeared to be the nail in Plant’s coffin.

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When the dreaded weather alarm sounded with one out left and Brown at the plate in the sixth inning, Vista coach Larry Greenstein was distressed, knowing the “baseball gods” were revising the script.

Cobra parents knew it just as well as “Greenie.”

Joan and Steven Lashley have been in the stands supporting their children – including elder brothers Brett and Ryan -- for four of six state championship runs with the Cobras. They told the same story during the delay that Greenstein shared in the postgame press conference.

“You want to talk about curses?” Greenstein asked. “Back in 2015, I had a kid named Austin Smith – he’s all warmed up, we go to the plate meeting, he’s ready to roll and we had a really good team just like this club. And they said lightning delay.”

That delay lasted three hours.

“I remember Austin gave up four runs in the first inning and we lost that game 5-4 to go to the final four,” Greenstein recalled.

And so it was written. Mattison emerged from the bullpen, ready for his third complete game in the postseason and gave up three hits almost instantly. Senior Michael Malone came in for relief, registering two strikeouts, but the damage was already done.

“I threw from about 55 feet. Just heavy balls to get my arm loose so it didn’t get too cold,” Mattison said. “Throwing down in the bullpen felt really good. Nothing hurt. Nothing was sore. Nothing was tight.”

“I’m definitely going to hit the gym this summer and get stronger, get faster, gain a little weight, come back, throw a little harder hopefully…” Mattison said, already topping out at 91 miles per hour this spring.

A third pitching change for Plant saw that Panthers sit down Calise and catcher Joshua Hungler with a 6-3 double play and sealed routine flyout in rightfield, putting the seemingly broken “curse” right back on Vista.

“You have one of your hottest hitters up who looked pretty darn good and I would go with Joe Calise any given time so it was just one of those things. Do you bunt or do you not bunt? Do you go with what your gut says? ‘This is your guy.” I thought it was a good matchup for him hitting. He hit the ball hard. He just hit it to the wrong place at shortstop, but I’m not going to second guess myself at all,” Greenstein said.

Now, the eyes are on the future, as Matt, who recently decommitted from the University of North Carolina, is “thankful” to join brother Jason at Indian River State to keep their “telepathic” connection going at the next level.

After asking for permission to pull out his cell phone mid-presser, Matt said: “I actually got a text from my older brother, Ryan, who made it to the championship once I believe and my other older brother, Brett, didn’t make the region semi – he texted me, ‘Just think, if you win then you made it farther than Brett ever did.’ “

“It’s meant a lot to me over the past few years growing and developing as a player and just creating those bonds…” Matt said, one of 12 graduated seniors on the roster.

Meanwhile, a scorned-again Mattison will be readying for another rout to state.

He bounced back for a final four run from 2022’s lost region final against state finalist Palm Beach Gardens. If the trend holds, Mattison’s forecast that Vista will return to win it all could very well be accurate.

“It’s baseball. You live and you learn and you move on. We’ll definitely be back next year.”

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Park Vista baseball feeling cursed after delay foils state title dreams