Softball, track teams prepared for district tournaments next week

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Softball, track teams prepared for district tournaments next week

Sports

Saturday, 17 April 2010 00:00

By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor
Fields will buzz in Osceola County next week with the softball district tournaments at Osceola and Harmony high schools.
The Celebration High track will be busy as well with the 3A District 6 meet Wednesday, starting at 9 a.m. Other county schools will be at Winter Park Thursday for the 4A District 4 track meet.
Harmony is the top-seed at the six-team 4A District 6 softball tournament that begins Monday at 5 p.m. when No. 5 Celebration plays No. 4 Tavares. At 7 p.m., No. 3 St. Cloud meets No. 6 Poinciana.
Tuesday, No. 2 Eustis plays the St. Cloud-Poinciana winner at 5 p.m. in one semifinal, followed at 7 p.m. by the No. 1 Longhorns against the Celebration-Tavares winner.
At Osceola, the host Lady Kowboys, No. 4, play No. 5 Winter Haven Monday at 7:30 p.m. in the 5A-5 tournament.
That winner meets No. 1-seed Lake Wales, the Class 4A state runner up last year, Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in the semifinals.
Other first-round games at OHS Tuesday have No. 3 Sebring meeting No. 6 Liberty at 7:30 p.m. Haines City, No. 2, plays No. 7 Ridge Community at 5:30 p.m. The winners play Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.
Gateway, 4-13, plays at the 6A-6 district tournament Monday at 7 p.m. at Palm Bay Bayside.
Harmony may be rusty when it takes the field Tuesday, idle since playing at the Dunnellon spring tournament last week.
“We had a game against Sanford Seminole this week, but it was canceled,” Coach Ralph King said.
The Longhorns, 12-8, lost three of four at Dunnellon, but they beat Eustis, 3-1, in a makeup game April 7 that decided the No. 1 seed at the district tournament.
St. Cloud, 13-7, won 5-2 at Bishop Moore Monday and 6-1 at First Academy Tuesday as pitcher Sam Gale struck out a total of 28 batters in earning both wins. Gale had three hits against Bishop Moore and Amanda Ligon had a pair of hits against First Academy.
Gale, a junior, earned her 400th career strikeout at Bishop Moore.
Coach Mike Gale said his team must improve to advance from the district tournament.
“We played good enough to win (at Bishop Moore), but that’s all that can be said,” Gale said. “At this point, anything can happen.”
The 4A-6 championship is Thursday at 7 p.m.
Osceola, 14-8, plays at a Naples tournament this weekend as it prepares for the district tournament.
Osceola won two games against Naples Barron Collier and No. 7-ranked East Ridge at the Kissimmee Klassic before the spring break, building momentum.
Celebration pitcher Jessica Kraus is the county’s all-time strikeout leader (840). She has 172 in 97 innings this season.
“We always have a chance with Freddy (Kraus) on the rubber,” Coach Ed Kuzma said. “We hit the injury bug at the end of the season which has caused us to mix up the positions quite a bit. The girls have responded well. We have come up just short in a lot of close games.”
The 5A-5 title game is Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
The top two teams in the softball district tournaments advance to the regional playoffs April 27.
At the 3A-6 district track meet at Celebration Wednesday, the Oak Ridge girls are prohibitive favorites, but county squads Celebration, St. Cloud and Harmony all should advance athletes to the regionals. The top four in each event advance.
Celebration pole vaulter Jessica Harter is one of the best in Class 3A, winning the Orange Belt Conference championship two weeks ago with a vault of 11-5.
Harmony high jumper Karey Dewey won the conference title with a jump of 5-10, one foot better than second place.
St. Cloud shot put and discus thrower Diana Martinez is a three-time state qualifier who won conference championships in both events.
All three county teams can challenge for the boys championship.
St. Cloud has one of the county’s strongest distance teams with runners like Sean Wood, Carlos Perez, Matt Cole and Bailey Morgan.
Celebration’s Marcus George is one of the area’s premier hurdlers, and Tyler Osorio won the 400 meters conference title.
Harmony’s Chris Bolinger is one of the top discus and shot put throwers in the state.
Osceola, Gateway and Liberty go to the 4A-4 district meet Thursday at Winter Park, where the Osceola girls are the defending champions.
Freedom, Boone, Cypress Creek, East River, Colonial, University Winter Park and Timber Creek also will compete.
Osceola sprinter Tynia Gaither, after running one of the top 200 meters times in the nation (23.72) at the recent Carifta Games in the Cayman Islands, is seeking state titles in the 100 meters and 200 meters sprints.
Osceola’s Ileis Figueroa is a conference champion at 800 and 1,600 meters, and Jameshia Gant is the county’s best hurdler.
Gateway has a solid 4 x 400 relay, the conference champion, with Unike Fermin, Shayna Rios, Jayleen Quinones, and Audreen Robinson.
Liberty’s Kelila Naules is one of the county’s top sprinters.
Liberty’s boys have one of the district’s strongest teams, led by a deep hurdling crew that includes Jean Leon, Patrice Pierre and Paul Hunte. The Chargers have one of the top distance runners in Robbie Johnroe.
“We have a chance to win it, but Boone is strong,” Coach Robert Pauley said.
Gateway’s Matt Swanson and Jeorge Irrizary are among the county’s top distance runners, and Osceola boasts one of Central Florida’s top sprinters in Defario Phillips.