The Orange Belt Conference baseball tournament returns next week after a two-year hiatus, and it could have major implications on this year’s county All-Sports Championship.
Harmony and Celebration are locked in a close battle to determine the overall top athletic program for the county’s eight public schools.
The quarterfinals are Monday, with the top four seeds hosting first round games at their fields at 7 p.m.: Poinciana at Osceola, Celebration at Tohopekaliga, St. Cloud at Liberty and Gateway at Harmony.
The highest remaining seeds will also host semifinals Wednesday.
Osceola will host the third place (5 p.m.) and championship (7 p.m.) games Friday, April 8.
Seeding was determined from MaxPreps rankings as of Monday.
Osceola was 7-4 entering Tuesday night’s game at Tohopekaliga. Coach Scott Birchler said consistency has been an issue for the Kowboys.
“When we play our best, we are a pretty good baseball team but on a game-to-game basis we have been a little uneven in our play.”
Senior Danny Ramirez took a .353 batting average with a team-leading 12 RBI into this week, and senior Chris Palmi was 2-0 with a 1.14 ERA on the mound.
Playing a young lineup against an extremely difficult schedule, Harmony found itself with a 4-6 overall record. Four Longhorn pitchers combined for five-hit shutout (4-0) against St. Cloud on March 25 and Harmony, and won 11-6 at Osceola March 10. Their chances in the tournament may hinge on the availability of ace pitcher Caden Scarborough, who exited a game with arm tightness against The First Academy after throwing just eight pitches last week.
Sophomore Cade Walter (18 for 35) was hitting a robust .581 for the Longhorns.
“We are playing a lot of really young kids,” Coach Heath Williams said. “Against First Academy we had four freshmen on the field. As they get experience I expect this team will improve.”
Liberty comes into the tournament at 6-4, and 4-0 against OBC Sophomore Edwardo Diaz took a .516 batting average into this week, and on the mound had 29 strikeouts in just 14 innings of work this year.
Aiden Fernandez was hitting .421 with a team-leading seven RBI for the Celebration, and Tohopekaliga’s Javarius Magee was hitting .581 (9 for 16) entering this week.
The county began holding OBC tournaments for team sports in the fall of 2019, but the pandemic put an end to the fun competition after the winter season ended in 2020.
“We really wanted to bring the OBC tournaments back for all the spring sports, but we had some scheduling issues,” Osceola County Athletics Director Ryan Adams said. “We were able to work it out for baseball this spring and starting next fall, all the team sports will have an OBC tournament week.”
The baseball tournament could play a key role in determining the overall champion for the coveted All-Sports Trophy. Celebration (96) entered the springs sports season with a narrow lead over defending champion Harmony (90), as the Storm look to capture their first ever OBC All-Sports Team title. With Celebration likely to win boys and girls tennis titles, and Harmony countering in boys and girls track and flag football, it may leave baseball and softball as the sports that could decide overall champion.
