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St. Cloud sophomore Addison Felblinger hopes to lead the Lady Bulldogs to a district title this week. PHOTO/ST. CLOUD HIGH
This week marks the postseason in baseball, softball and boys volleyball, with district tournaments and a trip to the regional playoffs on the line.
Baseball: Harmony, Osceola and Tohopekaliga are the top three seeds in the District 7A-9 tournament. Celebration (11-10-1) will host Poinciana (2-13) at 6 p.m. Monday; the winner will travel to top seeded Harmony (14-11) on Tuesday for a 6 p.m. semifinal game. Osceola (10-11) will host Tohopekaliga (13-11) in the other semi. The highest remaining seed will host the title game Thursday at 6 p.m.
Harmony comes in as the hottest team in the district, having already won the OBC Championship and winning 10 of its last 13.
“We have had a lot of injuries but we have played with lot of togetherness and resiliency. We are having fun right now and I think that has made the game easier for us,” Harmony Coach Heath Williams said. “These guys have earned the right to play this tournament at home.”
Osceola is the defending district championship. Senior Nick Palmi has been a bright spot this season, leading the team in most offensive categories, and was named to the Florida Athletic Coaches Association All-State team this week.
Third-seeded St. Cloud (14-10) will play a 4 p.m. semifinal against second-seeded Melbourne (12-12) in the 6A-8 tournament at the USSSA Complex in Vero Beach. A win would put the Bulldogs in the finals at 6 p.m. Friday against the winner of the top-seeded Vero Beach vs. Heritage/Sebastian River winner.
David Blackmore’s young St. Cloud team won 14 games this season with only two part-time senior starters in its lineup.
Gateway (6-14) will host Liberty (2-18) in a 7 p.m. Monday, Class 5A, District 7 quarterfinal Tuesday’s semifinal against Sebring. Lake Wales and Auburndale are scheduled to play in the other semifinal with the championship game slated for 7 p.m. Thursday at the highest remaining seed.
Softball: St. Cloud Coach Ray Whobrey hopes a tough regular season schedule had prepared his Lady Bulldogs (12-13) for the 7A-9 tournament. St. Cloud plays Monday’s Freedom/Cypress Creek winner in a Tuesday semifinal. The winner of that game plays at 7 p.m. Thursday for the District title against the winner of the Lake Nona/Boone game. All tournament games are at Lake Nona.
The 7A-10 tournament will have an OBC feel as all five district teams are from Osceola County. OBC Champion Harmony (10-9) will host the winner of the Poinciana (13-10) vs. Celebration (4-15) game on Tuesday at 6 p.m. The Longhorns are led by Emerson Alsan (.404 batting average, 6 HR, 16 RBI) and pitcher Lindsey Green (8-8, 3.69 era). Should Harmony advance, they will host the winner of the Osceola (12-10) vs. Tohopekaliga (14-6) game for the district title at 6 p.m. on Thursday.
Osceola has already played the Tigers twice this year, winning 12-1 on Mar. 19 before taking a 16-15 extra-inning win on Apr. 12. The Kowboys also feature a young team, with six freshmen and a sophomore in its starting lineup.
Top-seeded Horizon (17-5) will be the favorites in the 5A-6 tournament at Auburndale. Third-seeded Liberty (7-12) will face 6th seeded Gateway (0-14) in a Monday quarterfinal, with the winner taking on #2 Auburndale (9-13) in a Tuesday semifinal. Horizon gets the Lake Buena Vista/Jones winner in the other semifinal.
With a smaller number of schools sponsoring the sport in Florida, boys’ volleyball is a single classification (1A) sport with 32 districts. All seven Osceola schools that play are in District 10, which guarantees at least one county team will make it to regionals.
OBC Champion St. Cloud (17-6) is the top tournament seed and will play the winner of Monday’s Harmony-Tohopekaliga game. Poinciana will host Gateway and Celebration hosts Liberty Monday; the winners meet Tuesday in the semifinals.
In all three sports, district champions advance to regionals. The top eight ranked non-district winners in each region also advance as at-large teams based on rankings.
BASEBALL DISTRICT PLAY SCHEDULE
Monday, April 29
Poinciana at Celebration, 6 p.m. (7A, D9)
Liberty at Gateway, 7 p.m. (5A, D7)
Tuesday, April 30
Celebration/Poinciana Winner at Harmony, 6 p.m. (7A, D9)
Tohopekaliga at Osceola, 6 p.m. (7A, D9)
St. Cloud vs. Melbourne at Viera, 4 p.m. (6A, D8)
Liberty/Gateway winner at Sebring, 6 p.m. (5A, D7)
Thursday, May 2
7A, District 9 Championship Game (Site TBA), 6 p.m.
6A, District 8 Championship Game at USSSA Sports Complex Viera, 6 p.m.
5A, District 7 Championship Game (Site TBA) 7 p.m.
SOFTBALL DISTRICT PLAY SCHEDULE
Monday, April 29
Celebration at Poinciana, 6 p.m. (7A, D10)
Liberty at Gateway, 6 p.m. (5A, D6)
Tuesday, April 30
Celebration/Poinciana Winner at Harmony, 6 p.m. (7A, D10)
Tohopekaliga at Osceola, 6 p.m. (7A, D 10)
Freedom/Cypress Creek Winner vs. St. Cloud at Lake Nona (7A, D9)
Liberty/Gateway Winner at Sebring, 7 p.m. (5A, D7)
Thursday, May 2
7A, District 10 Championship Game (Site TBA), 6 p.m.
7A, District 9 Championship Game at Lake Nona, 6 p.m.
5A, District 7 Championship Game (Site TBA) 7 p.m.
BOYS’ VOLLEYBALL DISTRICT 10 TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Monday, April 29
Tohopekaliga at Harmony, 6 p.m.
Liberty at Celebration, 6 p.m.
Gateway at Poinciana, 6 p.m.
Tuesday, Apr. 30
Harmony/Toho Winner at St. Cloud, 7 p.m.
Celebration/Liberty winner vs. Gateway/Poinciana Winner, 5 p.m. at St. Cloud
Thursday, May 2
District 10 Championship Game, 6 p.m. at St. Cloud
