After falling short in last year’s Class 1A state finals, Deltona Trinity Christian used a potent offense to claim the school’s first state championship in any sport Thursday at Tradition Field in Port St. Lucie.
The Eagles (21-12) scored 24 runs over two games to earn the crown, but it wasn’t an easy road. In Wednesday’s state semifinal game against Eagle’s View, Trinity starting pitcher Evin Lynch surrendered eight runs, including four in his last inning of work. In that inning, Eagle’s View scored six runs. Relief pitcher Kyle Burkhead pitched the remainder of the game. After working out of the difficult third inning, he allowed just one more run through four innings of work.
The two hurlers received plenty of support from the Eagles’ offense. Trinity Christian scored six runs in the first inning and seven in the second to hold a 13-4 lead before Eagle’s View (22-9) rallied back in the third inning to make it 13-10.
In the first inning, Mitchell Anderson pounded a grand slam to make it 6-1. The Eagles then turned a 6-4 game into a 13-4 game with its seven-run second inning. In all, Trinity Christian had eight hits to Eagle’s View’s 15-hit attack. The game, though, was largely about defense. Eagle’s View committed six errors, including some costly mistakes in the early innings. Trinity committed four errors.
Burkhead improved to 2-1 on the season. Meanwhile, Eagle’s View starting pitcher Zac Houck fell to 5-2. He lasted just one inning, and Eagle’s View had used its third of five pitchers by the end of the second inning.
In the championship game, Trinity won 10-6 in an incredible 10-inning game against defending state champion Cambridge, which defeated Trinity 18-0 in last year’s state semifinals. This time, Trinity’s offense broke through in a big way.
Trinity led 6-1, but Cambridge scored five runs in the sixth inning, and Trinity took four innings to break the knot.
The road ended Friday for another Central Florida club. Lake Brantley lost a duel 1-0 to Tampa Alonso, which earned a spot in the Class 6A championship game. It was just the fourth loss of the season for the Patriots (29-4).
Lake Brantley pitcher Josh Tanski tossed a gem. He allowed only two hits. The game’s outcome amounted to a second-inning error that allowed Alonso (29-3) to score the game’s lone run.
The Patriots managed just three hits of their own against Alonso pitcher Thomas Dorminy.
Central Florida’s third state playoff baseball team also lost in the finals. Orlando Bishop Moore defeated Jacksonville Paxon 3-1 to move to the Class 4A championship game, but the Hornets fell 3-2 to Naples to finish the season 26-8.
Trailing 3-0 after three innings, the Hornets rallied with a run in the fifth inning and then cut it to 3-2 with a run in the seventh on a one-out double to left by Matthew Lambert. The second out came when Chase Vergason was ruled out for interfering with a Naples player who was attempting to catch a ball. Anthony Caronia also failed to score Lambert, and that ended the game.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, Bishop Moore secured victory in the semifinals when Vergason lined an RBI single to make it 2-1. Later, Nathan Perera slapped an RBI infield single in the sixth inning to score Francis Halili form third base. Halili had reached on a triple.
Bishop Moore actually trailed Paxon 1-0 when Hornets’ starting pitcher Jimmy Hodgskin allowed a run in the first inning. James Mannara pitched three innings in relief and was the winner. Paxon (18-16) was playing a school that was a state champion as recently as 2007 and which won its other four state playoff games by a combined score of 36-5. The Hornets face Naples, a 7-3 winner Friday against Archbishop McCarthy, in the championship game.
One other state baseball championship has been determined. In Class 3A, Jacksonville Bolles defeated Plantation’s American Heritage 14-4 to claim the state championship on Thursday.
The 2A and 5A state championship games are set for today.
Football: Spring ball this week
Spring football season found itself playing second fiddle to another phenomenon, namely some wet weather that put some games on hold and forced the cancellation of others last week. But there's plenty of opportunity for scratching that itch. This week brings a host of key matchups.
Today, South Daytona Warner Christian plays at New Smyrna Beach. The Eagles reached last year’s Class 1B state title game before falling 49-14 to Jupiter Christian. Most of last year's Warner team returns in the fall. Thus, this game might show just how much they’ve improved. Running back Breon Allen is just one of the players to know for the 2009 season. He played well as a sophomore and even had some nice runs against Jupiter Christian.
New Smyrna Beach is a team at the opposite end of the spectrum. The Barracudas struggled mightily during the 2008 season. NSB finished 2-9 in Class 4A-7. Now they’ve moved to Class 4A-13, where they’ll compete with just Melbourne Palm Bay and Melbourne Viera for two postseason berths.
Timber Creek also faces Dr. Phillips tonight. Both teams were strong in 2008, but DP lost its starting quarterback, Nico Ranieri, to the college game. They still have some offensive weapons, and they’ll have them on display against Timber Creek.
Other games this week pit Edgewater against Boone (May 27), Olympia at Spruce Creek (May 28) and Apopka at DeLand (May 29). That should leave lots to discuss as the spring practice season wraps up and players await the arrival of mid-August, when the 2009 season starts in earnest. Stay tuned.
