MIDDLEBURG - Thursday night lights will be blazing with softball action in the county with two major rivalry games happening; Oakleaf at Middleburg and Ridgeview at Fleming Island.

The bigger of the two is two playoff teams; Oakleaf; region 6A finals, vs. Middleburg, region 5A semifinals, in the heart of Bronco Nation with both teams playing erratically well.
Middleburg coach Ashley Houston has been putting her girls in the fire with games against state champions, state runnerups and region playoff players; Trenton, Branford, West Nassau as such and the Lady Broncos have surely been tested.
The Broncos have been pitching with Lily Bennett and Cloey Ballinger rocking the circle with Karleigh Sanford on hold.
The Oakleaf Lady Knights ride the power arm of Charlotte Maddox (41Ks, .88 ERA. 471BA) to do their heavy hitting with the Dartmouth bound hurler just whiffing nine in a clash with Bartram Trail.
In the batter's box, Middleburg's power comes from the four openings; Kerra Clarida, KK Hagan, Isabel Pifer and recently Ballinger who bashed big in 7-6 win over West Nassau last week while also pitching for six strikeouts. Ballinger also hit a double and triple in 11-2 rout of Cornerstone with Clarida yielding the lumber in 11-0 win over Episcopal; homer, double and single for 3RBIs.
Oakleaf has speed on the basepaths led by Jaydyn Beall (.571, 12 hits) and that could create some exciting plays on the field. Beall made two spectacular reach fly balls against Bartram Trail showing good range from the six spot.
Oakleaf is 3-3, Middleburg 5-3.
At Fleming Island, 4-1, the Bucklews talked about a young squad, but the Golden Eagles have played with plenty of energy with a recent late inning win over Tocoi Creek, 5-3, and a win over Flagler Palm Coast, 4-0, before that. The lone loss is to Beachside, 5-2. Fleming Island' s batting lineup features solid hits and strong baserunning with Lauren Abrams (.467, 11RBIs, 3 doubles, 1 triple) and Liv Sikes (.632, 12 Hits, 5 doubles) the big bats.
For Ridgeview, 2-4, coach Angela Agurkins' fiery dugout speeches have produced a double win week for the Panthers over Trinity Christian with Agurkis fielding a small, young but enthusiastic team of new faces led by senior Nicole Deschamps at the hot corner and pitcher Saige Bialek with Peyton Kirk and freshman Emma Lundy adding some firepower.