By STEVE JACKSON
All high school baseball teams in the South Shore 5 have one more week to attempt to end their official 2024-25 season at .500. Granted, this is a long shot, but all five are two games below .500 going into this last week of the regular season.
Division playoffs start next week with the opportunity to play until you lose—or win a state championship in mid-May.
Lennard High won a pair of nailbiters last week, both by 2-1, to put its overall mark at 9-11. The Longhorns of Coach Victor Martinez bused to Spoto early this week to battle Coach Lastings Milledge’s 10-12 Spartans, who are looking to snap a three-game losing skid.
East Bay High, of Coach Rowland Ruiz, won its only game last week, a thrilling extra-inning 6-5 win over the tough 16-5 Newsome Wolves. That puts the EB Indians at 9-1, with three games on tap this week. The Indians hosted 13-8 Alonso High early this week, traveled to 12-6 Durant for an April 8 game and host 10-11 Freedom at Big Bend Road to end the regular season on April 10.
Sumner High, of Coach Kennedy Duran, was one of the 2-1 victims of Lennard last week. However, the Stingrays bounced back to blast Spoto 12-1 behind the pitching and hitting of a pair of seniors. Isaiah Welch and Luke Parson dominated the Spartans last Thursday from the mound, and both swung hot bats. Parson had two hits, scored two runs and had two RBIs.
Welch contributed a hit, a run and an RBI in the big win. This week, the Stingrays hosted Brandon early and then bus to Lutz to end the regular campaign at 12-10 Steinbrenner High, Thursday evening at 7 p.m.
Riverview High, of Coach Garrett Thompson, matched Sumner’s 1-1 record of last week to give the SS5 a record of 5-5 for the week. The Sharks breezed past Brandon on April Fools Day, 14-3. The Riverview offense was sparked by hot-hitting junior Kaden Hess with 2 for 3 at the dish, three runs scored, a double and a triple. Freshman Chase Montminy had 1 for 2, a triple, a run and three RBIs. Providing more offense was junior Justin Edwards with 3 for 3, two runs and an RBI. Also contributing was senior Jan Carlos Rodriquez with a hit, a run and two RBIs. Senior Anthony Shellman collected 2 for 3 with two runs, and getting in on the act at the plate were juniors Yadiel Rivera-Morales, Gabe Boltz and Jordan Shultz, all scoring runs and knocking in runs. The Sharks were beat up pretty bad by Plant High in a 12-2 loss later in the week, managing only three hits. This week, the 10-12 Sharks hosted Plant City on Monday and then trek to Tampa to conclude the regular season versus the hapless 1-19 Chamberlain Storm, Thursday at 7 p.m.
The Spoto Spartans, of Coach Lastings Milledge, dropped all three games last week to slide under .500 to 10-12 on the season. The Spartans could do no better than one run each against all three winning opponents last week: Bloomingdale, Sumner and Parrish Commnity High. Spoto hopes to show some resilience this week. Early on April 8, the Spartans hosted Lennard. Then to wrap up Coach Milledge’s first season as head coach, Spoto entertains the 4-16 Middleton High squad.
Levert Sims, a Spoto sophomore, knocked out two hits each in the losses to Sumner and to Parrish. Sims added another hit in the Bloomingdale 8-1 loss, in which Spoto only collected two hits total, the other by sophomore Na’im Salter.
District playoffs
All five South Shore teams start the state district playoffs next week. In district play, one loss and the season is over.
Winners advance to regionals, which start April 23 and are best 2 of 3 games. State Championships are set for Hammond Stadium in Ft. Myers, with semi-finals on May 15 for 5A. Semi-finals for 6A and 7A are on May 16. Brackets and opponents will be announced this weekend by the FHSAA (Florida High School Athletic Assocization).
Sumner plays in Division 7, where the Stingrays are currently 1-3. They could possibly draw Alonso, which is 2-3 in district and 13-8 overall, or Palm Harbor High, which is 0-1 and 13-9. Other nearby teams in District 7 are Strawberry Crest, Newsome and Plant City.
Lennard and Riverview are both classified in 6A but in separate divisions. Lennard is grouped with Parrish, which is 3-0 in division and 17-4 overall. In the same Division 2 is Palmetto at 2-2 and 6-16. Riverview is in Division 6 at 0-1, along with Lake Gibson at 1-1 and 5-16. Durant is also in Division 6 at 0-1 and 12-6. Bloomingdale is another 6A team but in a separate division, holding a 2-0 division mark and 19-3 overall.
Spoto actually leads the 5A Division 9 rankings with a 3-1 record and is 10-12 overall. The Spartans are expected to open with either Freedom, at 2-1,10-11, or with Leto at 2-2, 10-12. Also in 5A is East Bay High, which is part of the District 9 mix with a 1-2 district mark and 9-11 overall. Hillsborough High at 1-3 and 6-15 is the fifth team in District 9.