A key hit and plenty of pitching helped guide a Tampa Bay team to a state softball championship.
East Bay (Gibsonton) topped Niceville 2-0 to claim the Class 5A crown. The championship was the first team title for the school since it opened in 1957.
East Bay got the crown with a heavy dose of standout pitcher Kayla Cox. A senior headed to North Carolina State, Cox struck out 18 of the 28 batters she faced while giving up six hits and walking one. Cox worked out of bases-loaded jams in the fifth and seventh innings.
Cox, who struck out the first six batters she faced, finished the season with an 18-1 record.
Meanwhile, it was one key hit that got the Indians over the hump. After five scoreless innings, East Bay scored in the sixth when Sierra Rock connected on a two-run double that gave East Bay all the offense it would need.
More softball
East Lake (Tarpon Springs) and Canterbury (St. Petersburg) came up short in their efforts to reach state championship games. East lost to Niceville 1-0 in the Class 5A state semifinal and Canterbury fell 5-4 to Jacksonville Eagle’s View in the Class A semifinals.
East Lake lost despite a great effort from pitcher Alyssa Bache. Bache limited Niceville to just four hits and struck out 10 batters. But the East Lake offense could not back her up. East Lake only mustered three hits but still left five runners on base. The Eagles left runners on in four of the first five innings.
On the recruiting trail
Four Palm Harbor University swimmers recently announced college plans.
Wes Stearns will swim at Harvard, while Blake Freeman has signed with Kentucky and Mark Gettino with Florida Atlantic. And Caroline Mays will swim for George Washington University. Stearns, Gettino and Freeman were part of the Hurricanes team that won district and regional championships last season. Mays’ girls PHU squad won a conference crown in 2009.
Indian Rocks Christian (St. Petersburg) football player Tyler Ostherm has signed with a Quincy University in Illinois. Primarily a running back, Ostherm surpassed 1,100 yards last season rushing and receiving and scored 16 touchdowns.
Also, Oldsmar Christian (Tampa) basketball player Quentin Bastian will play at Lander University, a Division II school in South Carolina. Bastian, 6-foot-6 and 225 pounds, will play forward. He also was being recruited by Coppin State.
Other happenings
Threatened because of a school scheduling change, the prestigious Tampa springtime Tony Saladino baseball tournament will go on in 2011.
When the Hillsborough County School Board recently voted to change the spring break schedule for the 2010-11 school year, event organizers were concerned the 30-year-old tournament would be a casualty. But the event will be played in 2011, although the format may be tweaked for time sake.
Spring football jamborees have started across the Bay area. In one of the first contests of the spring, Berkeley Prep (Tampa) ran over Lake Highland Prep (Orlando).
Berkeley Prep was led by running back Nelson Agholor’s 176 total yards and three touchdowns. One of Agholor’s scores came on a 70-yard run. Meanwhile, Buccaneers quarterback Destin Nichols completed 13 passes, two of which went for touchdowns.
