Wednesday, 7-8 p.m. – “The Prep Zone” Sports Show (broadcast from Sonic Drive-In on 39th Avenue in Gainesville)
Join Mike Ridaught & Marty Pallman as they talk high school sports. Guests for this episode include Newberry baseball coach Mike Spina and members of the Panthers’ team, which advanced to next week’s Class 1A state semifinals with a 12-6 win against Williston in the Region Final.
Radio: “I am Country” 106.9 FM Gainesville
Tuesday, May 11 Dixie County (Cross City) at Trenton
Join Marty Pallman (Play-by-play) and Jake Ricker (Color) for this Class 1A Region Final. The winner advances to the state semifinals.
*We apologize for the technical difficulties (internet issues)
Bolles (Jacksonville) takes over top spot after upsets in district tournaments shake up top 10 of regional poll
GAINESVILLE – It’s time for the state playoffs to start this week in high school baseball.
And if the district tournaments are any indication, we may be in for a wild ride in for the teams in The Prep Zone Power Poll.
All told, four of the top ten teams from the previous poll, including the #1 team in Clay (Green Cove Springs), saw their seasons come to an end in the district semifinals.
The Blue Devils (19-5) were upset by 12-14 Baker County (Glen St. Mary) in the District 2-4A semifinal, and then-#6 Santa Fe (Alachua) knocked off then-#10 Suwannee (Live Oak) in the other semifinal of that district to finish another top ten teams’ season.
Santa Fe then beat Baker County to win the district title.
University (Orange City) and Sandalwood (Jacksonville), who were ranked 7th and 9th respectively and are both 7A schools, both saw their seasons end early in district tournament losses and failed to qualify for the state playoffs.
With all the shakeup and the top-ranked team losing, five teams received first-place votes this week. But another familiar face is back at the top for now.
Bolles (Jacksonville) knocked off #8 Episcopal (Jacksonville) 11-2 to win the District 4-3A title and catapult the Bulldogs (22-4) back to the top spot this week. Bolles receives three of the eight first-place votes, and just outpoints #2 Bartram Trail (St. Johns), who received a first-place vote as well.
Bolles opens up play in a Region 1-3A quarterfinal against Baldwin on Thursday, while 7A Bartram Trail (22-5) faces a tough test in #6 Spruce Creek (Port Orange) in a Region 1-7A playoff opener. The Bears knocked off #9 Mandarin (Jacksonville) to win the District 1-7A title, and also beat Clay and #5 Fleming Island (Orange Park) over the last few weeks.
Santa Fe moves up three spots to 3rd after winning the district title. The Raiders (23-2), who have won 22 of their last 23 games and open play in the 4A playoffs Thursday night at home against Arnold (Panama City), earned a first-place vote as well.
St. Johns Country Day (Orange Park) makes another big move, up four spots to #4.
The Spartans (20-6) easily won the District 3-2A title and also picked up wins over Bolles and Bishop Kenny. St. Johns Country Day picks up two first-place votes as well.
Rounding out the top five and the final team to pick up a first-place vote is Fleming Island. The Golden Eagles (21-5) beat #11 Creekside (St. Johns) to capture the District 3-6A title and host Lyman (Longwood) to open up play in a Region 1-6A quarterfinal on Friday.
Spruce Creek starts off the second five, and the Hawks (19-8) are forced to go on the road to Bartram Trail after being upset in the District 2-7A championship game 5-4 by Lake Mary. Clay is 7th, followed by Episcopal, Mandarin, and Buchholz (Gainesville).
Episcopal starts the postseason on the road in 3A at RV Keystone Heights, with 7A Mandarin, who moves up eight spots from the previous poll, travelling to Lake Mary. Buchholz (18-6-1), who also is a big mover, up five slots to round out the top 10, must make a long trip to Pensacola to open up the Region 1-7A playoffs at Pace.
Moving in this week are #16 Nature Coast Tech (Brooksville), who beat #13 Hernando (Brooksville) for the District 7-4A championship, District 5-3A winner Trinity Catholic (Ocala) is 19th, and 5-5A champion Lake Minneola (Minneola) at #20.
Dropping out from the previous poll were Trinity Christian (Jacksonville) and First Coast (Jacksonville), both teams who failed to qualify for the state playoffs.
This is the final poll until after the FHSAA Baseball State Championships in Fort Myers from May 19-26.
The Prep Zone Power Poll ranks the top 20 high school football, volleyball, girls basketball, boys basketball, baseball & softball teams (regardless of FHSAA classification) across 26 counties in North Florida (Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Citrus, Clay, Columbia, Dixie, Duval, Flagler, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Hernando, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lake, Levy, Madison, Marion, Nassau, Putnam, Sumter, St. Johns, Suwannee, Taylor, Union & Volusia counties). It is voted on weekly by sportswriters and sportscasters and it is powered by Anytime Fitness of Gainesville.
THE PREP ZONE POWER POLL POWERED BY ANYTIME FITNESS OF GAINESVILLE – 2021 BASEBALL POLL #4
(School, followed by classification, first place votes, record through 5/2, and total voting points.)
1. Bolles (Jacksonville) (3A) (3) (22-4) – 152
2. Bartram Trail (St. Johns) (7A) (1) (22-5) – 146
3. Santa Fe (Alachua) (4A) (1) (23-2) – 142
4. St. Johns Country Day (Orange Park) (2A) (2) (20-6) – 140
5. Fleming Island (Orange Park) (6A) (1) (21-5) – 137
6. Spruce Creek (Port Orange) (7A) (19-8) – 99
7. Clay (Green Cove Springs) (4A) (19-5) – 89
8. Episcopal (Jacksonville) (3A) (20-6) – 88
9. Mandarin (Jacksonville) (7A) (20-7) – 81
10. Buchholz (Gainesville) (6A) (18-6-1) – 80
11. Creekside (St. Johns) (6A) (15-11) – 70
12. Newberry (1A) (21-1) – 69
13. Hernando (Brooksville) (4A) (23-3) – 62
14. North Marion (Citra) (4A) (17-8) – 55
15. Suwannee (Live Oak) (4A) (19-6) – 54
16. Nature Coast Tech (Brooksville) (4A) (21-4) – 49
17. University (Orange City) (7A) (19-5) – 35
18. Union County (Lake Butler) (1A) (20-4) – 28
19. Trinity Catholic (Ocala) (3A) (17-9) – 23
20. Lake Minneola (Minneola) (5A) (17-7) – 22
Also receiving votes: Sandalwood (Jacksonville) (7A) (17-5) – 13; Hamilton County (Jasper) (1A) (16-8) – 9; Citrus (Inverness) (4A) (16-9) – 6; Mount Dora Christian Academy (2A) (19-6) – 5; Keystone Heights (3A) (15-12) – 4; Trinity Christian (Jacksonville) (3A) (15-11) – 2; Vanguard (Ocala) (5A) (15-10) – 2; Bishop Kenny (Jacksonville) (4A) (14-13) – 1; First Coast (Jacksonville) (6A) (21-5) – 1.
The Sonic Drive-In Player-of-the-Game for Thursday, April 29, was Zane Starling of the Santa Fe (Alachua) baseball team.
Starling, a sophomore, pitched 5.1 innings allowing only five hits and two earned runs with three strikeouts and no walks and also reached base three times, including an RBI double, as host Santa Fe rallied past Baker County (Glen St. Mary), 6-3, to win the District 2-4A title on Thursday night.
Santa Fe took the lead in the bottom of the first as Landon Rogers drove in Devante Mitchum with a sacrifice fly and the Raiders led 1-0.
But Baker County (13-15) struck for three runs against Starling in the top of the second.
Wildcats pitcher Cason Milton singled and Easton Stevens doubled to put runners on second and third with one out. And RBI groundout and two RBI singles by Tucker Kennedy and Jase Knabb gave Baker County a 3-1 lead.
Two of those three runs were earned, the first earned runs allowed by Starling this season.
“It’s tough on a young kid like that, when you give up three, sometimes you just kind of collapse,” said Santa Fe coach Travis Yeckring. “But he stood tall and came in the dugout and said, ‘they’re not getting anymore.’”
He settled down after that, and drove in a run with a double in the bottom of the 2nd to bring the Raiders within 3-2.
The score stayed that way until the bottom of the 5th, when Santa Fe tied the game 3-3 on a suicide squeeze by Landon Rogers.
The Raiders (23-2) finally took the lead for good in the bottom of the 6th thanks to some Baker County wildness.
JT Thornton was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to give Santa Fe a 4-3 lead, then Ryan Brown scored on a wild pitch and Devante Mitchum drove in Dalton Dampier with a sacrifice fly to right field to extend the Raiders lead to 6-3 lead.
Conner Brown pitched the final 1 2/3 innings in relief of Starling to pick up the win, striking out three.
Santa Fe opens up play in the state playoffs next Thursday, May 5 against an opponent to be determined at home in Alachua. Baker County will hit the road for the first round of the 4A playoffs.
Every game The Prep Zone will recognize a Player-of-the-Game. The recipient receives a $10 gift certificate courtesy of Sonic Drive-In of Gainesville & Ocala.
Thursday, 6:45 p.m. (PREGAME) – Baseball, 7 p.m. (FIRST PITCH) – This is an “Audio only” Broadcast.
Join Marty Pallman (Play-by-play) and Jake Ricker (Color) for the Class 4A-District 2 championship game.
University (Orange City) still unanimous top-ranked team in regional all-classification rankings as high school softball season heads into postseason
GAINESVILLE — After a COVID-19 shortened 2020 season, high school softball has made its way with little issue through the regular season in 2021 and into district tournament play.
And the same can be said for the team at the top of The Prep Zone Power Poll, the University (Orange City) Titans.
University (20-0), which remains the only undefeated team in the poll, won four more games over the last few weeks as the Titans enter the District 2-7A tournament this week as the #1 seed.
The Titans knocked off Spruce Creek (Port Orange), 5-4, and Seminole (Sanford), 3-2, among their wins and once again receives all seven first-place votes. They are also ranked #3 statewide in 7A by Max Preps.
Moving up a spot to 2nd this week is Ridgeview (Orange Park).
The Panthers (21-3), ranked 2nd in 4A by Max Preps, were 6-0 since the last poll and have won 10 in a row. Ridgeview picked up wins at #12 Creekside (St. Johns) and RV Keystone Heights as well as RV Clay (Green Cove Springs), and they are the top seed in District 4-4A.
Ridgeview switches spots this week with Trenton, which drops to 3rd.
The Tigers (14-1) have only played three games since the last ranking but they are #1 in 1A by Max Preps. Trenton is the No. 2 seed in the District 7-1A tournament, with #8 Dixie County (Cross City) as the top seed.
Eustis moves up two spots to #4.
The Panthers (20-1), ranked #1 in 4A by Max Preps, were 7-0 since the last poll and have won 13 in a row since their only loss, 5-4, to Winter Springs.
Eustis picked wins over #10 Hernando (Brooksville), #15 Belleview, #16 South Lake (Groveland), and #19 West Port (Ocala) over the past few weeks to move into the top five this week.
Rounding out the top five is West Nassau (Callahan).
The Warriors (17-6) are up three spaces after defeating then-#5 Trinity Christian (Jacksonville) and going 4-1 over the last couple of weeks. West Nassau’s only loss was 1-0 at the team that follows right behind them, Baker County (Glen St Mary).
Baker County moves up five spots to start off the second five.
The Wildcats (15-6) also picked up a victory over then-#4 Oakleaf (Orange Park) to go along with the win over West Nassau. Baker County’s only loss over this span came to Baldwin.
The rest of the second five consists of #7 East Ridge (Clermont), Dixie County, which is up five spots to 8th, Trinity Christian, which fell four spots to #9, and Hernando, which drops three spots to round out the top 10.
Oakleaf, which was ranked 4th in the previous poll, takes a tumble to 18th this week after dropping seven of eight games. The Knights (14-9) still have a shot at the playoffs in the District 1-7A tournament this week.
Baldwin (19-4), which won the Gateway Conference Softball Tournament, moves into the rankings at #17. Lecanto also is new to the poll at 20th.
Falling out from the previous poll are Taylor (Pierson) and Keystone Heights.
The Prep Zone Power Poll ranks the top 20 high school football, basketball, baseball & softball teams (regardless of FHSAA classification) across 26 counties in North Florida (Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Citrus, Clay, Columbia, Dixie, Duval, Flagler, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Hernando, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lake, Levy, Madison, Marion, Nassau, Putnam, Sumter, St. Johns, Suwannee, Taylor, Union & Volusia counties). It is voted on weekly by sportswriters and sportscasters and it is powered by Anytime Fitness of Gainesville.
THE PREP ZONE POWER POLL – 2021 SOFTBALL POLL #4
(School, followed by classification, first-place votes, record through 4/25, and total voting points)
1. University (Orange City) (7A) (7) (20-0) – 140
2. Ridgeview (Orange Park) (4A) (21-3) – 129
3. Trenton (1A) (14-1) – 123
4. Eustis (4A) (20-1) – 116
5. West Nassau (Callahan) (3A) (17-6) – 103
6. Baker County (Glen St. Mary) (4A) (15-6) – 96
7. East Ridge (Clermont) (7A) (17-7) – 90
8. Dixie County (Cross City) (1A) (18-1) – 86
9. Trinity Christian (Jacksonville) (2A) (14-4) – 79
10. Hernando (Brooksville) (4A) (20-4) – 77
11. Episcopal (Jacksonville) (3A) (18-5) – 70
12. Creekside (St. Johns) (6A) (17-5) – 54
13. Nature Coast Tech (Brooksville) (4A) (17-6) – 49
14. Gainesville (5A) (16-6) – 44
15. Belleview (4A) (17-7) – 42
16. South Lake (Groveland) (6A) (19-3) – 40
17. Baldwin (3A) (19-4) – 38
18. Oakleaf (Orange Park) (7A) (14-9) – 37
19. West Port (Ocala) (7A) (18-5) – 18
20. Lecanto (5A) (16-6) – 11
Also receiving votes: Paxon (Jacksonville) (4A) (14-7) – 7; Keystone Heights (3A) (14-8) – 5; Taylor (Pierson) (3A) (16-3) – 5; Fernandina Beach (3A) (18-4) – 4; University Christian (Jacksonville) (2A) (12-2) – 4; Clay (Green Cove Springs) (4A) (17-8) – 3.
Wednesday, 7-8 p.m. – “The Prep Zone” Sports Show (broadcast from Sonic Drive-In on 39th Avenue in Gainesville)
Join Mike Ridaught as he talks high school sports. Guests for this episode include Keystone Heights boys weightlifting coach Lantz Lowery, coach/AD Chuck Dickinson, and members of the Indians’ weightlifting team, which won the Class 1A state title this past Friday.
Radio: “I am Country” 106.9 FM Gainesville
Wednesday, 5:50 p.m. (PREGAME) – Baseball, 6 p.m. (FIRST PITCH) – “Audio only” broadcast. We apologize for the technical difficulties.
Join Marty Pallman (Play-by-play) for the Class 6A-District 2 semifinals. The winner clinches a postseason bid and advances to Friday’s district championship game.
The Sonic Drive-In Player-of-the-Game for Tuesday, April 27, was Ryan Brown of the Santa Fe (Alachua) baseball team.
Brown tossed a 3-hitter as the Raiders advanced to the Class 4A-District 2 title game with a 2-0 win against Suwannee (Live Oak) in Alachua on Tuesday night.
Santa Fe (22-2), which set the regular season school record for winning percentage, also clinched a spot in next week’s FHSAA state playoffs.
Brown struck out eight and only walked one in improving to 10-0. He lowered his earned run average to 0.22.
“I just kept throwing strikes,” he said. “My defense saves my life sometimes because I’m a contact hitter, I’m not really a strikeout guy, so when my defense is making plays, I’m making plays. I’m happy with it.”
The senior had at least one strikeout in every inning and only allowed two runners in scoring position.
“If there is one guy in the state that I could have on the mound it would be Ryan Brown,” Yeckring said. “He doesn’t throw the hardest but he’s going to compete and throw a bunch of strikes.”
Santa Fe will host Baker County (Glen St. Mary) in Thursday’s district championship game. The Wildcats (13-14) upset Clay (Green Cove Springs), which is No. 1 in the state in 4A, in the other district semifinal.
First pitch is at 7 p.m.
Every game The Prep Zone will recognize a Player-of-the-Game. The recipient receives a $10 gift certificate courtesy of Sonic Drive-In of Gainesville & Ocala.
Tuesday, 6:45 p.m. (PREGAME) – Baseball, 7 p.m. (FIRST PITCH) – This is an AUDIO ONLY broadcast.
Join Marty Pallman (Play-by-play) and Jake Ricker (Color) for the Class 4A-District 2 semifinals. Visiting Suwannee is ranked third in the state in Class 4A. The Raiders are No. 2 in 4A. The winner clinches a postseason bid and advances to Thursday’s district championship game.