Even in defeat, Romano, Doumis impress during Dick Howser All-Star baseball Showcase

JUPITER — Saturday afternoon was the last time for high school baseball seniors in Palm Beach County to showcase their talents before going to college, and American Heritage shortstop Nick Romano, along with Palm Beach Central first baseman David Doumis, capitalized on the opportunity. 

While the South team lost the Dick Howser All-Star Showcase 5-2 at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium, Romano and Doumis combined for three of the team's five hits with the shortstop going 1-for-3 with a stolen base and the Broncos' Doumis smacking a double and triple.

Doumis was the South Team MVP (Palm Beach Gardens pitcher Tobin Moran was the North Team MVP) and is committed to Palm Beach State College where he will possibly play all over the field for the Panthers. This past season, he finished with a .320 batting average in 97 at-bats, and also had a 1.11 ERA in 50 innings pitched, earning a spot on the Palm Beach Post all-county first team for large schools. 

“I love playing the field, I love pitching, I love hitting, so I'll be a dual threat as long as I can,” he said. “Whatever the team wants me to do, I'll do.”

All-county:Meet the Palm Beach Post large-schools baseball all-county team

Small-schools:Palm Beach Post small-schools baseball all-county team

More:Local high schoolers get one last chance to play together in Dick Howser All-Star Showcase

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While Doumis knows collegiate baseball will be different from high school, he said he will take all that he has learned from Palm Beach Central to the next level. 

“My plate appearance, my leads on the base, my footwork on the field,” he said. “Everything they taught me I'm going to take along the way."

Doumis will join a Panthers team that has been steadily improving over the last three seasons, finishing 24-20 in 2018-19, 11-12 in 2019-20, and 31-15 this year.

Romano, who played shortstop for the Stallions and has signed with Georgia Tech, finished his career at Heritage with a .309 batting average, and had his best season this year with 26 hits, 16 RBI, 11 doubles, and his first career home run. He was a Post first-team small-schools selection. 

After competing in Saturday’s game, Romano said he has to get used to playing longer games in college, compared to the seven innings that high school games last. But whether it is seven innings or nine innings, Romano said he will continue to keep up his work ethic.

“Just being a leader on and off the field,” he said. “Helping out my teammates as best as I can and just having fun."

The 33rd annual all-star showcase honored Palm Beach County high school seniors from both public and private schools. Since 1988, the teams have been split between a north side and south side, with Forest Hill High more or less serving as a cutoff point.

Saturday’s event featured players from Dwyer, Wellington, Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens, King’s Academy, Forest Hill, Seminole Ridge and Royal Palm for the north team. 

The south team featured players from Palm Beach Central, Santaluces, Park Vista, Boca Raton, St. John Paul II, American Heritage, Olympic Heights, Boca Raton and Suncoast.

“It's a great way to just honor them as departing seniors from Palm Beach County ... before they go on to the next level in life,” Somerset Academy coach Vinny Jenco said. “All these kids are ultra competitors, and they wouldn't be playing here if they weren't."

Doumis agreed, adding that despite playing against all the participants at some point during his career, there were still some jitters before his first at-bat of the game, which ended up being a triple.

“At first I was a little nervous, but I just came out here and did my thing and had fun,” he said. “Wouldn’t trade it for the world. It was a great experience.”

You can contact the Palm Beach Post sports desk at pbsports@pbpost.com