By Rod Gipson
MaxPreps.com
After a second-place finish at last year’s state championship tennis tournament, Tampa Wharton had no plans on a repeat performance.
Led by Alex Bartholomew and Mitchell Wong’s doubles victories in the Class 3A final and in the overall final, Wharton outlasted Ponte Verde Beach Nease 13-12 last week to claim its first state tennis team championship.
Despite having just one individual winner, No. 4 player Rohit Navelkar, Wharton scored enough points in doubles play to claim the title.
The win made for quite a year for Bartholomew.
Wharton’s senior class valedictorian, Bartholomew also was a member of the Wildcats' boys soccer team that won the state championship earlier this season.
In other state tennis action, Tampa Chamberlain’s Jamie Mera and Jennifer Miller rallied to win the Class 3A girls doubles final 6-4, 6-6 against a tandem from Naples Gulf Coast. That win advanced Mera and Miller to the overall doubles final, where their opponents' injury default handed the title to them.
Also, Mera lost 6-4, 6-2 to Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas’ Courtney Clayton in the girls’ overall individual finals. Meanwhile, Tampa Plant’s Joel Samaha fell to Ponte Verde Beach Nease’s Yannick Yoshizawa 6-2, 6-2 in the boys’ overall individual final. And the Plant girls’ team placed second behind St. Thomas Aquinas.
Football: Tampa Plant's Murray Picks Georgia
After 54 scholarship offers, weeks of recruiting visits and a final choice between two Southeastern Conference powers, Tampa Plant quarterback Aaron Murray has verbally committed to the University of Georgia.
At a ceremony held at the south Tampa school this week, Murray thanked his coaches, teammates, family and friends before opening his suit jacket to display a tie with the Bulldogs' logo on it.
Murray, who will be a high school senior in the fall, said the final decision to pick Georgia over in-state University of Florida came down to the relationship he developed with Bulldog quarterback coach Mike Bobo and head coach Mark Richt.
As a junior, Murray completed 201 of 329 passes for 4,013 yards and a state record 51 touchdowns. The 4,000-plus yards were the third most in one season in Florida prep history behind Robert Marve (2006) and Tim Tebow (2005).
Murray led the Panthers to an 11-2 record and the Class 4A region finals last season.
Baseball: Playoff Action Heats Up
There will be no shortage of postseason baseball in the Tampa Bay area this week. No less than 20 local squads have advanced to the regional round.
Among the more intriguing matchups is Tampa Plant (24-3) hosting Palm Harbor University. Plant pitcher Mychal Givens is coming off a monster game in the Class 5A, District 10 final.
Givens pitched a two-hit shutout and went 3-for-4 at the plate with two RBI in Plant’s 5-0 win against Tampa Chamberlain. Also, Class 6A Tampa Gaither discovered an ace in pitcher Kenny Frey (6-1, 1.96 ERA) during the regular season and now he gets the ball on the road against Sarasota, 24-2 and ranked no. 2 nationally by USA Today.
In Class 4A play, a solid Dade City Pasco (23-5) team will try to continue to ride the steady arm of pitcher Dustin Brown while in Class A, Tampa Cambridge (21-2) and pitcher Michael Miller (61 strikeouts this season) will host Lakeland Sonrise Christian.
Other region action includes:
Class 6A: Lakeland at St. Petersburg
Class 5A: Lithia Newsome at Land O’ Lakes, Wesley Chapel at Brandon, Chamberlain at Dunedin, North Port at Seminole and Northeast at Bradenton Bayshore.
Class 3A: Sarasota Cardinal Mooney at Clearwater Central Catholic and Tampa Catholic at Fort Myers Bishop Verot.
Class 2A: Fort Meade at Tampa Prep, Naples Community School at St. Petersburg Northside Christian and St. Petersburg Shorecrest Prep at Naples St. John Newmann.
Class A: Tampa Bayshore Christian at Seffner Christian and Sarasota Christian at St. Petersburg Canterbury.
Softball: Barons Storm Back, Stay Alive
Just when things might have looked the darkest for St. Petersburg Catholic, its biggest star shined brightly.
St. Petersburg Catholic found itself down 4-0 to Fort Myers Bishop Verot after just a half inning in the Class 3A region semifinals last week. And pitcher Chloe Saganowich was partly to blame, giving up three hits in the inning.
But the sophomore calmed down on the mound and heated up at the plate to lead the Baron comeback.
She would allow just two more hits the rest of the game and strike out nine of the last 14 Bishop Verot hitters. Meanwhile, she hit a home run and had two doubles as SPC stormed back, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first, three in the third and three more in the sixth to post an 8-4 win and advance to the region finals.
St. Petersburg Catholic (21-3) hosts upstart Lakeland McKeel Academy in this week’s region final.
In other region finals featuring local squads, Plant City Durant hosts Winter Garden West Orange (6A), Lithia Newsome hosts Lakeland George Jenkins and Tampa Plant plays at Venice in Class 5A. And in Class A, Seffner Christian hosts St. Petersburg Canterbury.
