DISTRICT CHAMPS – Longhorns baseball, Kowboys softball, Bulldogs volleyball

On a night where his coach said Evan Christ did not have his best stuff, Osceola’s hitters may have to disagree.

Christ struck out nine and scattered just two hits as top-seeded Harmony (16-11) captured the Class 7A, District 9 championship with a convincing 8-0 win over the Kowboys (11-12).  The win puts the Longhorns into a Tuesday evening Region 2 quarterfinal game. Osceola must wait to see if it earned an at-large bid when playoff brackets are released Saturday.

“Evan has been amazing all season, but he really wasn’t his best tonight,” Harmony coach Heath Williams said.  “He had trouble throwing his fastball for strikes tonight, but fortunately his curve and other pitches were hitting the spot.”

Christ (5-1) allowed just three runners to reach second base.  Osceola’s biggest threat came in the third, when Osceola put runners on first and second, but Christ struck out Josber Freitez looking to end the threat.  He allowed only a first-inning double to Nick Palmi, a fourth inning single to Riley Carpenter and two walks.

Iziah Santiago gave the Longhorns all the run support they would need in the first inning, when he hammered a three-run homer on a 2-0 count after Freitez had walked two in the inning.  “He had the green light all the way,” Williams said of Santiago.  “Our team has been extremely disciplined at the plate all season and we do not swing at a lot of bad pitches. Isaiah is a good hitter and has our trust in that situation.”

With the Kowboy bats struggling, only some stellar defensive plays kept Osceola in the game.  

Harmony loaded the bases in the third, but Freitez got out of the inning by getting Anthony Medina to pop out to the catcher.  Harmony filled the bases again in fourth but Josh Coloma made a sensational diving catch on Santiago’s sinking line drive to right to end that threat.  

Harmony broke the game wide open in the bottom of the sixth – taking advantage of three walks, a fly ball misplayed into an RBI triple and a two-run double by Clayton Williams as the Longhorns sent nine men to the plate and scored five runs to make it 8-0.

“We’ve had a lot of injuries this season, including losing a top starting pitcher in in Alexavier Lebron to a broken thumb last week,” Williams added.  “But this has been a resilient team.  They believe in themselves and in each other.  We just have found a way to win despite the adversity.  Two of our goals this season were to win the OBC Tournament and Districts and I am proud to say both of those have been checked off the list.”

Viera 4, St. Cloud 0: The Bulldogs will also wait if their 16-11 season record is enough for an at-large regional win after the Bulldogs dropped a tough 4-0 decision to top-seeded Viera (14-11) in the Class 6A, District 8 Championship Game.  

Dylan Jordan and Cayden Jensen combined on a one-hitter in the win for Viera.  Jordan did not allow a hit in five innings of work and the duo struck out 11 and allowed just one walk.  Sebastian Echeverry had the lone hit for St. Cloud, while St. Cloud’s Brian Wright pitched a complete game.

SOFTBALL

Osceola 4, Harmony 2: Freshmen Faith Ferrer, Sam Edwards and Tenley Dawson each had RBIs, while senior Alexis Miranda pitched a complete game, as Osceola upset Harmony for the Class 7A, District 10 softball championship.  

Osceola (14-11) will move on to a Tuesday regional; while Harmony (11-10), who came into the game as the fifth ranked team in its region, will have to see if they garner an at-large bid.  “Based on where we were ranked, I think we have done enough to get an at-large,” Athletics Director Dan Kerr said.  

Softball:  Boone 13, St. Cloud 11: As with the Longhorns, St. Cloud (13-14) will have to wait on a possible at-large after dropping a wild extra-inning decision in the Class 7A, District 9 Championship game played at neutral site Lake Nona on Thursday night.

St. Cloud built a 5-1 lead but Boone kept chipping away – eventually scoring two in the fifth to tie take a 6-5 lead.  The Bulldogs came up with one in the sixth to tie the game.  Each team scored four runs in the eighth to make it 10-10, but the Braves added three in the ninth and held off a St. Cloud rally for the 13-11 win.  

Senior Brooke Scott went 4-for-5 with two RBI, sophomore Addison Todd had three RBI and Grace Watford collected four hits and drove in two runs to lead St. Cloud offensively. 

BOYS VOLLEYBALL:

St. Cloud 3, Poinciana 1: St. Cloud (19-6) will head to regionals this week winning the Class 1A, District 10 Championship on Thursday night with a tight, drama-filled 23-25, 25-23, 25-22, 25-20 win over Poinciana (13-6).

“Super happy for my guys, it’s been a long season for them, lots of seniors being able to experience winning a district championship for the first time,” Bulldogs interim Coach Tommy Billiterri exclaimed.

Both teams played point by point, but in the end St. Cloud took the cake. In the first set, the Eagles soared ahead and held a 4-point lead, forcing St. Cloud to call their first time out. After the timeout, however St. Cloud caught up and was only trailing by one point, 20-19. St. Cloud then called their second time out a few minutes later when Poinciana gained 2 more points and they remained at 19. St. Cloud just could not catch up and Poinciana finished the set 25 - 23. Poinciana used some of its power players during set one such as Alan Reyes and Daniel Negron, as well as Jordan Isaac and Antwon Gallaway, who shut down any balls that were coming over the net. Unfortunately, for the Eagles this was not reflected in the next three sets.

In set two, St. Cloud pulled an uno-reverse and finished the set with the same score as set one, 25-23, except they won this round. St. Cloud's hitters took advantage of the block and tooled them as much as they could. Once set three came around, Poinciana was beginning to look discouraged as their efforts were not giving them the results they wanted. Starting off strong, the Eagles were right behind the Bulldogs with some incredible defensive and intentional moves, until St. Cloud kept racking up point after point. Will Sutphen closed out set three with a tip over the block, finishing 25-22. Set four, Poinciana kept up, but St. Cloud drilled balls to the 10-foot line and players like Enrique Soto took advantage of the deep corners and looked for a way to score there. The Eagles fought their way through each set, only trailing by a few points each time.

“Congratulations to St. Cloud, hell of a game and good luck the rest of the way to them, and hopefully they represent the district well” remarked Richie Sanchez, head coach for Poinciana, graciously acknowledging the Bulldogs' hard-fought victory.

St. Cloud will now advance to the regional playoffs next week.

~Thamely Santos