SJCDS Hodges second in Mr. Baseball count
GAINESVILLE – St. Johns Country Day School senior pitcher/infielder Brad Hodges finished second in the Florida Dairy Farmers Mr. Baseball selection following a final round of voting by a statewide panel of high school baseball coaches and media representatives.
Senior outfielder Roman Anthony of Douglas High School was selected as the Florida Dairy Farmers 2022 Mr. Baseball, denoting the best player in Florida from all classes.
Anthony, who has signed to play baseball at the University of Mississippi, led his team to the Class 7A state championship with a .520 batting average, 14 doubles, 10 home runs, 36 runs scored and 40 runs batted in.
Previously selected the Class 7A Player of the Year, Anthony tallied 159 points and garnered 13 of the 20 first-place votes in winning this year’s overall award.
Finishing as runner-up was Class 2A POY Bradley Hodges of St. Johns Country Day (88), while Class 5A POY Wes Mendes of Jesuit finished third (60). Rounding out the voting were Class 4A POY Kevin Martinez of Island Coast (49), Class 6A POY Walter Ford of Pace (43), Class 3A POY Cade Kurland of Berkeley Prep (36) and Class 1A POY Colby Jones of Holmes County (5).

MHS Forrester fifth in
Miss Softball choices

GAINESVILLE – Middleburg High senior pitcher Mallory Forrester, the Class 5A player of the year as chosen by the Florida Dairy Farmers, finished fifth in the prestigious Florida Dairy Farmer Miss Softball selections denoting the best player in Florida in all classes.
Sophomore pitcher Jasmine Francik of Melbourne High School was named the Florida Dairy Farmers 2022 Miss Softball following a final round of voting by a statewide panel of high school softball coaches and media representatives.
Francik led her squad to the Class 6A state title with a 19-1 record. She posted an 0.16 ERA while striking out 251 batters in 130 innings with only 19 walks. She allowed only 32 hits and three earned runs all season while throwing 11 shutouts and four no-hitters. Francik, who was previously selected the Class 6A Player of the Year, tallied 130 points and garnered nine of the 19 first-place votes to finish ahead of Class 7A POY Ella Dodge of Lakewood Ranch, who had four first-place votes and 110 points and Class 2A POY Luna Curran of Oxbridge Academy who had two first-place votes and 82 points. Fourth in the voting was Class 3A POY Hannah Taylor of Hernando (40), followed by Class 5A POY Mallory Forrester of Middleburg (34), Class 1A POY Alayna Lowery of Jay (20) and Class 4A POY Katie McCaw of Deltona (12).

MHS Houston third in Dairy Farmer coach of year

GAINESVILLE – In one of the more dramatic finishing surges in not just Middleburg High School athletics, but in arguable state wide sports, Middleburg High softball coach Ashley Houston culminated her first-ever state title finish with a third place selection the Florida Dairy Farmer coach of year choice. Houston did earn the Class 5A coach of the year selection.
Lindsay Ingram of Deltona High School has been named the Florida Dairy Farmers 2022 Softball Coach of the Year following a final round of voting by a statewide panel of high school softball coaches and media representatives.
Ingram led her squad to a 20-3 record and the Class 4A state title, the school’s first state championship and the first state softball title for a Volusia County team. In 18 years at Deltona, she has posted a 301-105-1 record.
Ingram, who previously was selected as the Class 4A COY, won the overall award with six of the 19 first-place votes and 124 points, to finish ahead of Class 7A COY T.J. Goelz of Lakewood Ranch, the 2021 state Coach- of-the-Year, who had eight first-place votes and 109 points. Class 5A COY Ashley Houston of Middleburg (76) finished third, followed in order by Class 1A COY Brian Watson
of Jay (36), Class 6A COY Dan Edel of Melbourne (34), Class 3A COY Dion Weaver of Clearwater
Calvary Christian (22) and Class 2A COY Kaley Bitterman-Gangelhoff of The First Academy (17).
All seven finalists led their teams to state titles.
The lone northeastern Florida winner of the Florida Dairy Farmers Coach of the Year is former Oakleaf High coach Christina Thompson, who won in 2017.