KEYSTONE HEIGHTS - Middleburg, Clay and Oakleaf high schools all earned softball district titles last week with five of the seven high schools; minus Ridgeview and St. Johns Country Day School, all advancing into the FHSAA region playoffs after a week of turbulent district finals games.
With Oakleaf dominating their district 2-6A championship game with a 7-0 win over Buchholz, led by hard hitting from senior Jaydyn Beall, the No. 4 ranked Lady Knights (11-12) advanced into the region 1-6A bracket to host No. 5 Bartram Trail (15-11) as region playoffs gear up On Wednesday and Thursday, May 7 and May; 1A-4A on May 7, 5A-7A on May 8. Oakleaf won an eighth inning 2-1 match against Tocoi Creek in their district semifinal. Bartram Trail defeated Oakleaf 4-2 in March in their only meeting of the year.

"We came out, had a plan, and executed," said Oakleaf coach Heather Han, now with her fourth district title. "We had a couple of bases loaded situations against us, but Charley (OHS pitcher Charlotte Maddox) pitched us out of them. We still had too many errors which has been a concern all season."

Han was congizant that her team has been somewhat inconsistent through the season, but that the talent on the team is there to take a deep run into the regions. 

"We have the talent here, we just have to maintain our focus which I think we have been doing that pretty well at the right time," said Han, who lost in region semifinals last year to Hagerty and in quarters two years ago with a region final finish in 2022 losing to eventual 7A runnerup Lake Brantley. "We know Bartram Trail always puts a good team on the field so we cannot afford to make minor mistakes against them. It will be a good game."


For the rest of the region lineup, Clay, earned their district title in district 4-4A with a riveting 5-4 eighth inning walk win over Pedro Menendez via a double from junior Grace Miller.
"I have said that this team will be tested throughout the season as most of them are very young players with only a little experience at the varsity level and at the high school level, but I am more than excited about the season," said Lewis, in a preseason question as he watched his young squad going through early season drills. "I'm invigorated to coach again because of these kids."
Lewis was uncanny in his prophecy as his team never took the foot off the gas pedal against Menendez, at 10-11, and a senior laden squad, that tested the 15-10 Blue Devils with the first three innings going scoreless behind both pitchers; Sadie Russo for Clay with 10 strikeouts and Madelyn Brown, a senior, for Menendez, with nine strikeouts (four in first two Clay at bats), controling the game's tempo.
In the bottom of the seventh, Clay had a shot to cash in with Amiah Carrubba and Kaitlyn Howell on base, but Brown whiffed Hailie Miera to put the game into overtime.
With Russo still pitching, Menendez upped the pace with the eighth inning overtime format (runner placed at second base to start) with a sacrifice bunt and single giving Menendez the lead at 3-2, the a double adding one more before Clay's defense snagged two fly balls.
Again, with a runner at second base, D'Rheah Watson, Hackett singled off a bunt to move Watson to third with Bailei Jackson hitting a grounder to third that got delayed enough on the throw to keep baserunners in tact before Miller smashed her gamewinner to left field to ice the game.
In Region 1-4A, No. 4 Clay (15-10) will host No. 5 Arnold High (17-8), ironically, the same lineup for the Clay High baseball team in their region final this week, with No. 1 Baker County (19-4) hosting No. 8 Choctowhatchee (5-18) in the upper bracket region opener.

In Region 1-5A, with Middleburg and Fleming Island battling to a 5-4 win by the Lady Broncos in the district 3-5A championship game, both teams advanced into the region playoffs with No. 3 Middleburg (18-8) hosting No. 6 Milton (14-12) and No. 5 Fleming Island (15-7) traveling to No. 4 Tallahassee Chiles (19-3).
Fleming Island opened in thunderous fashion in their district 3-5A championship game against Middleburg High with a three run homer from Ashlyn Madine with Jolee Rich adding one more with an RBI single to put the Golden Eagles up 4-0 very abruptly.
"I think we had a little bit of nervous jitters coming in because they have had a pretty good season," said Middleburg coach Ashley Houston. "We had a lot of new players this season this was a pretty big game not just because of the district title on the line, but it was a county rivalry."
Middleburg, though, answered quickly with two runs in their initial at bats off an equally thunderous triple from Mallory Ficklin that was followed by an RBI double from Cloey Ballinger to put the score at 4-1 that that was followed by an RBI double from Izzy Pifer to score the game 4-2 in what appeared to be an upcoming slugfest for a championship game.


Late inning homers by Madisyn Strickland and Kerra Clarida were the final blows for the Broncos who finished off with a 5-4 win for the District 3-5A championship.
"We came out hot and put runs on the board, but didn't finish," said Fleming Island coach Jennifer Bucklew. "In the later innings, we were still hitting the ball, but they were making good defensive plays on us. We had our opportunities."


In Region 2-2A, Keystone Heights High lost 4-3 in their district 5-2A championship game in an eighth inning finale after a thrilling seventh inning comeback fueled by a two run double from Kadence Massey tied Newberry High at 3-3. Keystone Heights allowed a bases loaded scenario on starting pitcher Kadence Massey with the game ending on a hit by pitch call by the home plate umpire.
"Tough loss for us," said Keystone Heights coach Jessica Marquart. "I'm proud of the girls for their resilience and toughness to get the two runs in the late innings. You can't give a team like this bases loaded in the eighth inning. We may see them in the regions.";
No. 2 Keystone Heights (9-16) will travel to No. 2 Trinity Catholic (19-8) for their region opener on May 7 with No. 3 Melbourne Central (19-3) hosting No. 6 Windermere Prep (15-5) in the opposite opener.

"The good thing is that everyone comes back next year," said Marquart.
In district 2-1A, St. Johns Country Day School won a 12-2 opener over First Coast Christian, but lost in the district championship game 18-3 to No. 1 Christ's Church Academy to end the Spartans season at 4-14.
In district 3-5A, Ridgeview faced off and lost an 8-0 semifinal to Fleming Island to finish their season at 9-15.
Also in district 3-5A, Orange Park lost an 11-0 match to Middleburg to end their season at 4-19.