04-05-2025
Despite coaching change, Varela baseball team stays on course, reaches regional finals
It was early March when Lazer Collazo, a long-time successful baseball coach in South Florida, unexpectedly stepped down as the head coach of Varela.
Midseason coaching changes at the top with assistants suddenly taking over can sometimes be the recipe for disaster.
But head coach Brian Alvarez and assistant Alex Diaz didn't blink an eye. They took the adversity and used it as a rallying cry. And there they both were on Saturday afternoon, celebrating with their players and vociferous fans on their home field.
The Vipers had just finished off an impressive 12-4 dismantling of No. 2 seed Archbishop McCarthy in the third and deciding game of a Best-of-3 Region 4-5A semifinal.
After having never even played a regional playoff game until 2022 when Collazo arrived, Varela broke more new ground on Saturday as the Vipers advanced to their first-ever regional final.
Varela (20-8-2) will go up against top-seeded Hialeah Gardens Mater Academy beginning next Wednesday and Thursday (May 6-7) with games one and two at Westland Gardens Park at 7 p.m. If a third game is required, the Vipers would get it back on their home field next Saturday.
'It's been a roller coaster season for sure,' Alvarez said. 'We were all totally caught by surprise when Lazer stepped down, especially for these kids because they've played for him since they were six and seven years old. Even though I'm the head coach on paper, it's been about both Alex (Diaz) and I doing this thing together and working to just keep the kids positive, just showing them that they can trust us. It was a matter of staying with a plan, to block out the outside noise and that we would ultimately be able to enjoy a moment like we're having right now.'
But as pleased as he was over how his players responded to him and Diaz, Alvarez made it clear who was at the root of all of the unprecedented success for Varela baseball.
'I give most of the credit here to Lazer,' said Alvarez who, when asked, said that Collazo stepped aside strictly for personal reasons. 'These were his kids and he's the one that basically built this team and this program to what it is now.'
Alvarez could not have dreamed of a better start for his team as the Vipers jumped all over McCarthy starter Anthony Diaz by rapping out five hits and plating five runs in the bottom of the first inning as Diaz never made it out of the inning.
When center fielder Jonathan Paniagua led off the second inning with an opposite field home run over the right field fence, Luis Sosa and Tyler Rodriguez eventually followed that up with two more RBI hits and the Vipers were out to an 8-0 lead after two innings. Eventually the lead ballooned to 10-1 after three innings over the stunned Mavericks.
'The game plan was to come out swinging, put the ball in play and try and get out in front of them early because we know McCarthy can really hit the ball and score runs,' Alvarez said. 'We couldn't have asked for a better start.'
Even with a strong hitting arsenal of bats, McCarthy was way too far behind and Varela starter Andy Espinoza, despite yielding eight hits and three runs in his five innings, got the important outs when he needed them to not allow any kind of a comeback.
'There's nothing like early momentum,' Paniagua said. 'It makes you feel like you're the one in total control and that it puts your opponent in the hole and puts more pressure on them.'
Espinoza actually was the starting pitcher in Thursday's 8-4 Game Two loss at McCarthy and it's where Alvarez, after winning Game One on Wednesday, talked about a gamble he and Diaz took.
'We actually fell behind early, something like 5-1 and Andy wasn't at 30 pitches yet,' said Alvarez. 'So we took a chance and pulled him off the mound knowing that even if we didn't come back to win in that game, we still had Game 3 at our home field in our back pockets. 'That would enable us to put him back on the mound again and he really came through for us today.'
Besides Paniagua, leading the way offensively for the Vipers were Sosa (3-for-5, RBI, 2 doubles, 2 runs scored), Jiovanni Zara (3-for-4) and Juan Chacon who was 2-for-3 with 2 RBI.
'McCarthy's tough, they've got big-time bats so I knew they were going to get their share of hits today,' Espinoza said. 'But fortunately my guys went out there and got me all of those early runs to stake me to the big lead and that allowed me to go out there on the mound and really control things. Just made it easier to do my job.'
