OAKLEAF - Middleburg High softball is well known for its contributions to the Middleburg High girls' weightlifting team; with a half dozen members earning state championship invites recently; KK Hagen, shortstop; Kerra Clarida, first base; sisters Caylee and Carly Johnson, outfield; Ari Seibel, outfield, and Alyssa Prather, catcher.

The result: lots of big hits; 24 homers total, 10 by Clarida, six by Prather, five by Hagan; 29 doubles, eight by Prather, seven by Clarida; seven triples, two by Hagan, two by centerfielder Mika Wesley.
On Saturday, at a much-anticipated matchup with an equally strong batting lineup from Oakleaf High School, it was a two-run homer by Carly Johnson in the fourth inning, her first of the season, that surprised the Lady Knights data collection, as the Broncos held off for a 3-0 win to improve to 16-2 for the season and a No. 1 ranking in Class 5A. Oakleaf is 11th ranked in 6A at 13-6.
Middleburg coach Ashley Houston was on her 99th career with the victory with a Mon., April 15 match at Fletcher to decide if 100 wins are in the books.
"Oakleaf had a good defense and their pitcher (Charlotte Maddox, 11 strikeouts) had a great game against our lineup," said Houston. "Morgan threw well (pitcher Morgan Beckham, 10 strikeouts) out there, but overall I didn't think we did very well; lack of adjustments out there. We did what we had to to get the win."
In the first inning, Middleburg looked like the game was going to be a rebuttal of a 10-1 loss to University Christian, defending 2A champions that Oakleaf beat 5-3 in March, the Tuesday prior, with a walk to Hagan followed by a double two batters later by Prather and a quick 1-0 slate.
In the second inning, Oakleaf had their first opportunity with a rare error at shortstop on a sloppy grounder from speedster Jaydyn Beall as the Knights looked to answer the body blow with their glancing punch. A sacrifice bunt by Avery Garcia moved Beall with Oakleaf's power batting duo; Meshayla Pettaway (.400) and Maddox (.453) both on the way.
Beckham whiffed both Pettaway and Maddox.
"I've been working on my attitude on the mound, by not getting overly emotional over things that happen," said Beckham, headed to Bowling Green University in the fall. "My coaches are working with my breathing and my mental approach to keep me grounded in kind of a next play-up thing instead of getting worked up when I'm in a situation."
Maddox answered Beckham's two strikeouts; one of herself, with three up and three down in the ensuing inning.
"We got great plays against the meat of their lineup, but they had great plays from their depth," said Oakleaf coach Heather Han. "They are the Queens of Clay for now and deserved the win. My girls are over there (in the outfield after the game) having a "Come-to-Jesus" meeting among themselves for today's effort. We are much better."
Beckham, had three strikeouts the next inning with a lone single to Desiree Norris, coming after dispatch red-hot Amya Mirelez, one of Oakleaf's top bashers with a .339 batting average and recent games of two and three hits; vs. Dwyer and Bartram Trail, with 21 hits for the season producing 20 runs batted in.
"She (Beckham) had our number," said Han. "We weren't swinging and the ump was calling them. I think I let them sleep in and it affected their mental preparation."
The "sleep-in" was due to the move of the game from Thursday night to Friday afternoon due to rain with a 1 p.m. kickoff.
In the third, Hagan got to first base off an error at first by Mirelez but Pettaway threw a laser to Beall at second to snag Hagan on a steal
In the bottom of the third, Oakleaf had another scoring opportunity with Beckham hitting Beall and Garcia to set up another Pettaway/Maddox bash party, but Beckham calmly popped Pettaway out and struck out Maddox with three non-swinging strikes.
"We weren't talking after the bats and adjusting, plain and simple," said Han, who, now 13-7, faces unbeaten Baldwin (18-0) on Tues., April 16.
In the fourth, Johnson's homer came with two outs and was followed by a double from Madisyn Strickland, but Maddox got Wesley out on three swings.
Beckham rocked Mirelez again with three mighty swings with two pop-outs ending the inning.
Oakleaf got two walks on Beckham in the fifth to set up some excitement in the dugout, but Garcia and Pettaway both popped out deep.
Maddox put two on base in the sixth with walks, but Strickland struck out.
Maddox got a single in the seventh, but baserunner Mia Rogers got snagged at third by Strickland and Norris got whiffed by Beckham to end the inning.
Wesley walked in the seventh, but Hagan grounded and Maddox struck out Clarida to give Oakleaf their final shot for the win.
Beckham struck out two around a single from Camryn Beall and Jaydyn Beall grounded out to end the game.

Final games
Middleburg (16-2, ranked No. 1 in 5A, 9th in Florida)
April 15 at Fletcher
April 16 vs. Keystone Heights
April 22 vs. Tocoi Creek
April 23 at Baker County (12-5, ranked 5th in 4A)
April 25 at Bartram Trail

Oakleaf
April 16 at Baldwin (18-0, No. 1 3A, 8th in Florida)
April 18 at Columbia
April 23 vs. Nease

Districts: April 29-May 2

Clay streak extends to four

Clay High's season turnaround continues behind the strong arm of senior pitcher McKinsey Bardroff with the Blue Devils winning a 4-0 game at Trinity Christian to win their fourth straight game and improve to 6-12 overall. Bardroff had 10 strikeouts against Trinity Christian with just two hits; singles in the first and seventh innings.
"The defense is riding her momentum with some great plays keeping baserunners off the basepaths," said Lewis.
With wins of 9-5 over Keystone Heights, 4-1 over Palatka, 7-5 over Ridgeview and 4-0 win over Trinity Christian, Clay coach Matt Lewis has a four-game slate of Ponte Vedra, Orange Park, Fleming Island, Episcopal and a rematch with Ridgeview and a final game against St. Augustine in anticipation of a strong district tournament appearance and possible region berth.
"We are in a good place and I'm hoping it keeps on," said Lewis, after his 4-0 win. "Softball is a funny sport with the girls maybe getting hot now and I hope it keeps going. McKinsey's return has been at the right time so far."
Clay, 13-11 last season, had just three seniors last season with pitcher Gabbi Ellis the backbone of a region playoff run that ended with a 2-0 loss to Ridgeview in the 5A region semifinals.

Keystone Heights knocks out Panthers, Eagles

Keystone Heights returned from a two-win, two-loss effort at the Kissimmee Klassic; wins over Merrit Island and Osceola, and produced locals wins over Ridgeview and Fleming Island to ready themselves for a trip to Middleburg on April 16 against the top Class 5A school in Florida (ninth in Florida) with Baldwin, West Nassau and University Christian on the docket to end the season.
Keystone Heights coach Jessica Marquart has had a knack for playoff preparations and her strong scheduling has put her in the playoff points scenario for a repeat regional appearance.
Strong pitching from Caitlyn Frampton (7Ks vs. Fleming Island) and Kadence Massey (8Ks vs. Ridgeview) plus two RBIs from Massey kept Keystone Heights in front with the Indians getting four and five-run innings against Fleming Island off batters Alaina Kinsall, Amber Wagner, Ashley Nugent and Riley Shuford all with two runs batted in a piece. Shuford and Nugent both hit doubles with Wagner a three-bagger.
Against Ridgeview, a five-run fourth inning spelled disaster for the Panthers with four singles doing the trick.
Keystone Heights final schedule includes Middleburg (16-2, No. 1 5A, 9th in FL) away April 16; Taylor away April 17, Buchholz (6A, 10-9) away April 19, Baldwin (3A, 18-0, No. 1 3A, 8th in FL) away April 23 and home against West Nassau (10-6, 10th 3A) April 24 and University Christian (11-6, 2A champs 2023, 3rd in 2A) April 25 as the Indians' gauntlet.
University Christian and West Nassau play Mon., April 15.

Lady Spartans on a four-game spree

St. Johns Country Day Schools softball team has won its last four games by a whopping 53-25 scoring gap, with four remaining on their schedule.
The Lady Spartans had scores of 10-6 win over Harvest Community, 22-12 over St. Joseph Academy, 7-5 over Peniel Baptist Academy and 14-2 over Eagles' View from March 8 through April 9.
With a .301 team batting average, the Lady Spartans have three former power players on their coaching staff with head coach Brittany Mcguire from Ponte Vedra High and the recently added Ridgeview High Final Four twin sister duo of Brittany and Brooke Michael mentoring the young Spartans with valuable playoff expertise.
Spartan pitcher Jules Raimondi, a senior, is 15th ranked in Class 2A in pitching with 89 strikeouts while combining with fellow senior Brooklyn Mauck to be ranked second and third in batting averages with .583 and .567 slates, respectively. Junior Gabriela Oceguera, a recent state medalist weightlifter, has three homers.
Oceguera, Mauck and sophomore Audrey Jackson all have 10 RBIs.
St. Johns finishes with a home game against Parsons Christian on Mon., April 15, then road games at Harvest Community on April 16, Seacrest on April 17 and Menendez on April 23.

Lady Raiders avenge Bishop Kenny's loss

Orange Park's Lady Raiders softball team reversed a three-game slide with two close wins last week; one a nine-inning 2-1 win over Palatka and a 3-1 win over Bishop Kenny on April 10 to push to a 9-8 overall record.
Against Palatka, the score locked at 0-0 to the ninth inning before runs were scored with Raider pitcher McKenna Bejarano whiffing 16 batters for the entire nine-inning stint.
In the ninth, after an intentional walk to J Petty, Zoe Pascoe and M Colin both powered doubles with Colin's blast plating two runs.
Palatka got their double in the final at-bats to score their lone run.
Against Bishop Kenny, Bejarano struck out nine en route to the win with Orange Park scoring two runs in the sixth to go up 3-0. Orange Park had 11 hits on the night.
Three singles in the sixth; Braylee Absher, Regan Barnett and Alex Fay got the win for Orange Park.
The Raiders have a four-game slate for this week; Mon., April 15 at Fleming Island, Tues., April 16 vs. St. Augustine, Wed., April 17 at Clay and Thurs., April 18 vs. Menendez. A road game at Sandalwood on April 23 and home against Bishop Snyder on April 25 ends the Raider regular season.

Fleming Island 4-2 for April

Fleming Island is approaching their mid-April schedule with a mix of overwhelming wins, a tight one-run win, but a recent 11-1 drubbing as the Golden Eagles look to finish off their regular season with four home games; Mon., April 15 Orange Park, Wed., April 17 Bishop Snyder, Thurs., April 18 Clay and Tues., April 23 Bucholz with a Wed., April 24 road trip to Flagler.
In a 9-8 eight-inning win over Tocoi Creek on April 9, Fleming Island stormed to a 5-3 lead after two innings with three errors by Tocoi Creek allowing three runs off hard hits from Ella Morris, Bailee Wadley, Olivia Sikes and Lauren Abram.
Fleming Island got two runs in both the fourth; Wadley 2RBI double, and sixth; Sikes RBI single, to hold off Tocoi Creek who scored two in the bottom of the seventh to put the scare of extra innings out.

Ridgeview finishes with a game gauntlet

Ridgeview High softball, 6-11, got a 3-0 win over Trinity Christian to snap a four-game losing streak on Friday, but Panther coach Angela Agurkis has her work cut out for her with the likes of Ponte Vedra, Baker County and Clay to end her season. Ridgeview knocked both Ponte Vedra and Clay from the region playoffs last season with all but three starting seniors on this year's team.