While most of Florida’s prep athletes have traded their sports gear for beach gear, the beat goes on for a few Central Florida baseball teams. Orlando Bishop Moore, Lake Brantley and Deltona Trinity Christian are playing state Final Four games in their respective classes this week.
Trinity Christian earned a return trip on Friday, May 15, with a sweep of Winter Park Geneva in a best-of-three series played at Geneva. Trinity Christian (19-12) won the first game 12-0 behind a big offensive showing and junior hurler Ryan Hadden’s two-hitter. In the nightcap, Trinity defeated Geneva 11-0 behind four shutout innings from Evin Lynch, who combined with relief pitcher Kyle Burkhead on a five-inning no-hitter.
According to the Daytona Beach News-Journal’s coverage, Hadden had six RBI in the two games, and teammate Cory Stafford had three hits, including a pair of home runs. Additionally, Hunter Weaver had four hits and Brandon Acevedo had three hits with five RBI.
Trinity Christian’s rise has been nearly unprecedented. A few years ago, the team featured lots of eighth- and ninth-grade players. The team struggled through a few seasons, but it steadily improved with the arrival of each new spring.
The Eagles also have faced some off-field challenges. Trinity head coach Mike Maples, who took over the team’s youthful bunch three years ago, has been battling cancer for two decades, and the 61-year-old coach is now facing some of the most difficult times he’s had as he deals with skin cancer that requires radiation treatment five days a week.
Trinity Christian’s players have rallied around their ill coach, and now they’ll be taking their quest to Port St. Lucie’s Tradition Field for a Wednesday tilt against Jacksonville Eagle’s View, which defeated Malone 14-2 and 13-2 to earn its trip to the Final Four. Eagle’s View is the defending state champion. The Jacksonville team finished 25-8 last year and defeated Cambridge for the state title.
If Deltona Trinity is victorious on May 20, the Eagles will play again Thursday for the state championship against the winner of the Cambridge-Lake Worth Trinity Christian game, which is also slated to be played Wednesday. That’s correct. There’s a chance that Trinity Christian will face Trinity Christian.
The Lake Worth squad is 27-4 coming into its game against Cambridge. Last season, Lake Worth Trinity lost a pair to Brito Miami in the regional finals. Deltona Trinity Christian lost 18-0 in a five-inning game against Cambridge last season. The Eagles have most of the players back from that team.
At the opposite end of the six-classification field, it’s Lake Brantley with its eyes on a state title. The Patriots improved to 27-3 on May 8 with a 6-5 win against another Central Florida power, Orlando University. On Saturday, Lake Brantley defeated Gainesville Buchholz, 6-5 and 7-0, to advance to a May 22 Final Four game.
The Patriots face Tampa Alonso (28-3) at Tradition Field in Port St. Lucie. Alonso coasted past Melbourne 8-1 and 6-1 to sweep its three-game regional final series. Now Alonso has its hand full with Lake Brantley, the defending 6A state champs.
Lake Brantley (29-3) is one win better than it was when it defeated Park Vista 4-1 in last year’s state title game. The Patriots’ three losses include a pair of games against Lake Mary and a February game against Lake Vista. Lake Brantley hasn’t lost since March 24.
A few other 6A teams from Central Florida teams had thoughts of the Final Four, but dreams were dashed for West Orange, the Winter Garden team that won 28 of its first 29 games. West Orange was upended, 4-3, by Melbourne in a nine-inning game in the regional quarterfinals. Also bowing out in the first round were Port Orange Spruce Creek, Winter Park, Longwood Lyman and Clermont East Ridge.
Also still donning the cleats is Orlando Bishop Moore, which defeated Dunnellon 5-0 and 17-0 on Friday to advance to a May 22 Final Four game against Jacksonville Paxon. Bishop Moore (24-5) would face the Naples-Archbishop McCarthy winner in a May 23 championship game if it can defeat Paxon first.
Bishop Moore didn’t even make the postseason in 2008, but the catholic school was a state champion in 2007. The Hornets’ last loss was on April 23 at West Orange. Since the start of the postseason, Bishop Moore has allowed just five runs in four games.
Junior pitcher Jimmy Hodgskin and senior hurlers James Mannara and Jason Boyer have been part of the story. They’ve also benefited from some strong defense and plenty of run support.
Hornets’ coach Dave Wheeler will be looking for his 400th career win in the game against Paxon. So that’s added incentive.
In Class 5A, Central Florida’s hopes for a state title fizzled out when Oviedo Hagerty lost Friday to Seffner Armwood in the regional finals. Armwood won 11-2, 5-4, and Hagerty ended its season with a 16-15 record. Hagerty defeated Winter Park’s Lake Howell in the regional finals. Lake Howell finished the season at 19-9.
In Class 3A, Winter Park Trinity Prep lost 5-1 to Ocala Trinity Catholic in the regional finals. Trinity Prep ended its season at 17-9. Meanwhile, Lake Highland Prep lost to Trinity Catholic in the regional quarterfinals and finished at 13-14.
In Class 2A, Orlando Pine Castle Christian defeated Orlando First Academy 5-0 in the regional finals and then defeated Providence 1-0 in the first game of the three-game regional finals series. Providence, though, bounced back to win the next two, 4-3 and 5-0. That ended Pine Castle’s season. They finished at 26-6. Orlando First Academy finished the season at 21-8.
In softball, Central Florida was shutout in the six state championship classes for the second straight year. Cooper City won the 6A state championship, and Jacksonville Bartram Trail won in 5A. Dunnellon won in 4A. In 3A, American Heritage was the champion, and the 2A champion was Westminster Christian. In 1A, Eagle’s View won a state championship.
Central Florida’s most hopeful team was Winter Park’s Trinity Prep. The team defeated Keystone Heights 2-1 in a 10-inning nail-biter to reach the state semifinals. Jacksonville Bolles, though, defeated Trinity 3-1 on May 11 to reach the finals. Trinity Prep ended its season with a 24-5 record.
Another hopeful squad, Orlando Timber Creek, finished 21-7 with a loss in the regional quarterfinals. Pitcher Brittany MacFawn posted a 0.18 earned run average and allowed just nine runs during the regular season. She allowed two, though, in a 2-1 loss to Winter Springs in the regional quarters. Winter Springs went on to reach the regional finals before falling 9-1 to Fletcher. Winter Springs finished the season at 23-7.
Mount Dora Bible finished 23-5 after losing 2-1 to Providence in the 2A regional finals.