In case you missed it on Monday, May 14, Marty Pallman joined Zach Alboverdi on “The Tailgate” on WRUF-98.1 FM & 850 AM in Gainesville at 4:05 p.m to talk high school sports. Here are the things they discussed on ThePrepZone.com Sports Report Presented by SunState Federal Credit Union:
Softball teams advancing to the state tournament – What a story for Keystone Heights. Bailey Story, that is. Down to its final out in a Class 5A Regional Final on Friday night, Keystone Heights got a two-run single from Story to win at Hernando (Brooksville), 3-2, and advance to the FHSAA Softball state semifinals in Vero Beach. The Indians (20-10) won all three of their regional games on the road, at Eustis (5-3), Santa Fe (4-1), and Hernando to advance to play West Nassau (Callahan) in a 5A state semifinal this Saturday afternoon at Historic Dodgertown.
Meanwhile, Trenton needed only five innings to dispatch Frostproof, 10-0, in a 1A regional final last Tuesday and advance to the state semifinals for the first time in 22 years. The Tigers (25-3) had an eight-run fourth inning and Darian Ingram tossed a two-hitter as Trenton will take on Madison County in a 1A state semifinal. Trenton, ranked #1 in 1A in the Miracle Sports State Softball Poll, has never won a state fastpitch softball title. Unfortunately, Gainesville was unable to join those two teams at Historic Dodgertown as the Hurricanes lost 10-3 in a 7A regional final at Niceville. Gainesville’s season ends at 22-6.
When will the softball state championships take place? – With heavy rain expected throughout the state of Florida this week, the start of the FHSAA State Softball Championships in Vero Beach has already been pushed back from Wednesday to Saturday this week. Classes 1A-4A were to start on Wednesday, with Trenton playing Madison County at 2:20 PM. But 1A-4A semifinals could be pushed back to next Monday with the championship games next Tuesday. This would put the 5A-9A semifinals this Saturday and the championship games on Sunday at Historic Dodgertown. There is a 70-80 percent chance of rain and thunderstorms called for Vero Beach through Sunday, so this weekend may not even be an option weather-wise.
Baseball state playoffs – Not a great first round of the state playoffs for area baseball teams last week. The only Alachua County team to advance to play tomorrow night, weather permitting, is Santa Fe. The Raiders easily defeated Mount Dora, 8-0, in a 5A region quarterfinal. Santa Fe is scheduled to host Tavares tomorrow night in Alachua, as Tavares ended Newberry’s season last Tuesday, 18-8.
Meanwhile in 7A, Columbia (Lake City) was eliminated, 6-1, by Creekside (St. Johns) in the regional quarterfinals. And Gainesville lost on a walk-off homer to St. Augustine, 3-2, in another 7A opening round game. Buchholz (Gainesville) rallied from a 4-0 first inning deficit to tie up Strawberry Crest (Dover) before falling 6-4. It was still a successful season for the Bobcats, as they had a 10-game winning streak at one point and finished up 21-7.
There was some good news from Class 1A as Trenton pounded Frostproof, 11-1, last Wednesday in a regional semifinal game. The Tigers will next host rival Chiefland in a region final game tomorrow night with the winner advancing to the FHSAA Baseball state championships next week at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers. Also Lafayette (Mayo) eliminated Union County (Lake Butler), 8-0, in Lake Butler and next travels to Madison County Tuesday night in another 1A region final with a trip to the state semifinals on the line.
Track and field recap – The state track and field championships were held at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville last weekend, and there were some interesting local results. The Oak Hall girls’ team won its third straight 1A state title, as Florida signee Grace Blair ended her spectacular career with individual wins in the 1600 and 3200 meter runs as well as winning the 4X800 meter relay. Oak Hall ended up with 62 points, with Lakeland Christian 2nd with 60.5. Individually speaking, it was Gainesville freshman Tamari Davis who shined. Davis won the 200 meters in 22.46 seconds, a new state record. Davis’ time was the third best in high school history, and broke the freshman high school record of 23.06 set in 2004 and the age-15 record set by former Olympic goal medalist Marion Jones of 22.76 (set in 1991).
Spring Football – There will finally be some high school football this week, of course weather permitting. P.K. Yonge (Gainesville) and Union County will play in a jamboree at Keystone Heights on Thursday night, and Bartram Trail (St. Johns) will be at Columbia on Friday night with Eastside (Gainesville) hosting Dixie County (Cross City). Another interesting game will be at Citizens Field as Buchholz hosts Ponte Vedra.
For the latest in high school sports in Gainesville, check out our daily reports on 106.9 FM every weekday around 7:50 a.m. Here is a link to the archives.
