Sectional tourneys will begin Friday

By Ken Jackson
Sports Writer

Three St. Cloud Little League softball teams, the 9-10 National baseball team, the Kissimmee Juniors and the Celebration 11- 12-year-old All-Stars all qualified for upcoming sectional round play by winning District 3 All-Star titles last weekend at the South Orange Little League Complex.

The St. Cloud 9-10, 10-11 and 11-12 softball teams all won and will begin their sectional tournaments Friday at Hancock Field in Clermont.

The 11-12 team defeated Conway to claim the title. Coached by Ray Whobrey, Steve Shantz and Kevin Mann, the roster includes Taelyn Ramirez, Maddie Urguiola, Kendall Brown, Kaitley Shirah, Sara Crawford, Paige Shantz, Mikeala Bush, Lilly Mann, Paige Wright and Marlo Whaley.

The 9-10 Nationals baseball team defeated South Orange, 5-1, in Saturday’s championship game. Along the way they defeated Celebration, South Orange and Kissimmee National, rolling through the tournament undefeated. They begin sectional play Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Union Park Little League in East Orlando.

Team members are Brock Barber, Joshua Blackmore, Bradley Brockwell, Jacob Cockcroft, Johnny Fritz, Drew Leeper, Hayden Partin, Carson Roe, Austin Shi, Garret Stadler, Jalen Townsend, Austin Vinson and Owen Wetzel. They are coached by John Roe, Joe Townsend and Dave Blackmore.

In addition, St. Cloud’s 11-year-olds, Junior National and Senior American teams claimed second-place finishes.

St. Cloud Little League will host the baseball state tournament and senior softball tournament from July 22-26, and is looking for volunteers to help with scoring and concessions.

Kissimmee’s Junior All-Stars claimed the district title Saturday over St. Cloud. Team members are Luis Alvarez, Anthony Carrero, Omar Colon, Angel Correa, Hadrian Cortes, Bryce Gray, Christian Munoz, Logan Ranonis, Emmanuel Sosa, Zach Tayes, Alex Tirado and Jeh-von Andrew. Johnny Hopkins, Angela Ranonis and Juan Vegas are the coaches.

The Celebration 12-year-old All-Stars begin their sectional tournament on July 23 at 7:30 p.m. after winning the District 3 title Saturday over South Orange, 6-5.

Along the way they defeated Kissimmee America (8-5), Kissimmee National (14-6) and South Orange (11-0).

The roster includes Jimmy Bartell, Javier Berrios, Kenneth Colon, Rye Julson, Rayan Lammers, Cameron Matoska, Tyler Murtha, Aiden Searcy, Brian Tavarez, Luke Westlake, Cooper White and C.J. Whitmire. They are coached by Tom White and Jeff Julson.