High school softball: Here's how the district tournaments shape up
Lake Wales was the only Polk County team to reach the softball state tournament last year. The Highlanders finished state runners-up and again the team is one of at least four county teams that could end up in the final four.
Bartow is ranked No. 2 in Class 6A; Auburndale is No. 4 in 5A; Lake Region is No. 1 in 4A; and Lake Wales is No. 5. Those are the top teams from Polk.
The postseason trek begins this week with the district tournaments. A Polk team is the top seed in five of the six districts in which the county has a team. If they all win, there still are as many as five more teams that could advance based on their regional rankings.
Here is how the Polk County districts stack up.
Class 7A, District 6: Winter Haven a long shot for postseason
Teams: 1 Newsome (13-7), 2 Strawberry Crest (12-8), 3 Winter Haven (10-14), 4 Durant (7-13), 5 Ridge Community (7-8), 6 Haines City (3-14)
How Polk teams shape up: Winter Haven went 1-8 to start the season then went 9-5 the rest of the way. Kaprice Leonard is one of the top hitters in the county. She is batting .405 with 13 extra-base hits, including three home runs, and 30 RBIs. Other top hitters are Trinity Hatcher (.368 BA, 8 XBH, 12 RBIs), Tori Hurles (.293 BA, 15 RBIs), Mariah Dawkins (.286 BA, 8 XBH, 24 RBIs) and Reese Wells (.284 BA). Wells also leads the pitching staff with a 2.89 ERA. Other players to watch are Ridge Community's Kirsten Garmen (.500 BA), Timmesha Bodison (.444 BA) and Tamyra Minisci (.349) and Haines City's Calonnie Holmes (.698 BA, 12 HR, 35 RBIs).
Prediction: Newsome, as the No. 8 seed in the region, is the only likely playoff team as district champion.
Class 6A, District 10: Bartow ranked No. 2 in state
Teams: 1 Bartow (22-3), 2 George Jenkins 11-13, 3 Plant City 11-8, 4 Lakeland (10-7), 5 Lake Gibson (8-14), 6 Kathleen (1-13)
How Polk teams shape up: Bartow will take another run at reaching the state tournament. Red Oxley is one of the top pitchers in the state. She's 15-2 with a 0.47 ERA. She also is hitting .452 with 23 RBIs. Other top hitters are McKenzie Gibson (.410 BA, 11 XBH, 20 RBIs), Julia Heter (.414 BA, 19 RBIs), Kyndal Sowell (.379 BA) and Kynley Quartermaine (.308 BA). George Jenkins' top hitters are Payton Spears (.370 BA, 7 HR, 29 RBIs), Rachel Matta (.396 BA), Jazlyn Duque (.385 BA, 4 HR, 17 RBIs) and MacKenzie Mathers (.338 BA). Lake Gibson is led by Brayden Seymour (.373 BA) and Brianna Roddenberry (.302 BA).
Prediction: Bartow will roll to the district title, but Jenkins, as the No. 5 seed in the region, will also make the playoffs.
Class 5A, District 6: Auburndale the dominant team.
Teams: 1 Auburndale (17-8), 2 Horizon (13-8), 3 Liberty (3-10), 4 Lake Buena Vista (2-17), 5 Gateway (1-12)
How county teams shape up: Auburndale should cruise to the title and as the No. 4 team in 5A, the Bloodhounds should be a favorite to get to the state tournament. The Bloodhounds' hitting is led by Hailey Bradley (.371 BA, 7 XBH, 17 RBIs), Kassidy Pontbriant (.368 BA, 10 XBH, 20 RBIs) and Nazyah Jones (.303 BA). Pontbriant is the leading pitcher with a 1.38 ERA.
Pitching: Auburndale over Horizon for the district title.
Class 4A, District 6: Lake Region leads 3 teams ranked in top 5
Teams: 1 Lake Region (20-5), 2. Bishop Moore (20-2), 3 Lake Wales (15-10), 4 Davenport (13-5), 5 Mulberry (8-10)
How Polk teams shape up: This is a strong district as No. 1 Lake Region, No. 4 Bishop Moore and No. 5 Lake Wales are the top five ranked teams in 4A, and No. 4 Eustis also is in the region. Despite losing top pitcher in USF-signee Alex Wright, Lake Region has proven it is the team to beat. McKenna Meadow has proven to be a strong No. 1 pitcher at 13-2 with a 1.05 ERA. Margaret Jenkins (.392 BA) is the top hitter and also is 5-2 with a 2.26 ERA. Meadows (.325 BA, Kirsten Aldredge (.313 BA) and Gabby Willis (.301) are also key hitters. Lake Wales also lost No. 1 pitcher Macey Murphy, a first-team, all-county pitcher, leaving Anna Conroy to pick up the bulk of the pitching. She's had some rough outings but has had two of her best outings late in the season as she became just the second county pitcher to beat Bartow's Red Oxley and also had a strong outing in a 1-0 loss to Lake Region. Lake Wales has a strong lineup with Zamya McBurrows (.381 BA, 20 RBIs), Presley Smith (.373 BA, 11 XBH, 23 RBIs), Lydia Denton (.346 BA), Kiera Davis (.329 BA, 15 RBIs) and Sydnie Whitaker (.318 BA, 6 HR, 18 RBIs).
Prediction: Give Lake Wales the win over Bishop Moore in the district semifinals but Lake Region will take the district title. All three will make the playoffs and one of the three could end up in the state tournament.
Class 3A, District 10: McKeel more dangerous in 3A than record shows
Teams: 1 McKeel (11-12), 2 Lake Placid (10-11), 3 Frostproof (7-9), 4 Tenoroc (6-4), 5 Discovery (0-10)
How Polk teams shape up: McKeel doesn't have a winning record but is stronger than its sub-.500 indicates. The Wildcats have played a tough schedule. Their strength of schedule is second in 3A, and they are ranked No. 14 in 3A and No. 5 in the region behind Calvary Christian, which is No. 1 in 3A strength of schedule. Kerissa Howell leads McKeel's lineup. She's batting .422 with 15 extra-base hits, including five home runs, and 18 RBIs. Kyndal Cornelius had a bounce-back year. After hitting .466 as a sophomore, she slumped to .234 but has increased her average this year by more than 150 points. She is batting .387 with 10 extra-base hits and 10 RBIs. Other hitters for McKeel are Brianna Shelley (.371 BA), Emma Skipper (.379 BA), Haylee Caruthers (.340 BA), and Rylee Bass (.321 BA). Frostproof will be looking to play spoiler and is led by junior Belle Mancillas, who is batting 486 with 11 RBIs. She also is 7-6 with a 2.47 ERA.
Prediction: McKeel over Lake Placid for the district title, but the Wildcats shouldn't take anything for granted either. Lake Placid defeated McKeel, 6-1 late in the season.
Class 2A, District 9: LCS rebuilt into playoff team
Teams: 1 Lakeland Christian (15-2), 2 Fort Meade (13-7), 3 Santa Fe Catholic (10-4), 4 Seffner Christian (6-9), 5 Foundation 5-10, 6 All Saints (4-18)
How Polk teams shape up: LCS fell on some tough seasons after the core of its back-to-back state championship teams finally graduated, but the Vikings appear on their way back. They didn't play a tough schedule but they have a talented young group that should continue to grow. McKenna Gravitt leads with a .556 batting average. Paityn Donalson (.553 BA), Cali Thornton (.514 BA), Emily Grafitt (.452 BA), Emmerson Tyler (.371 BA) and Mikayla Hampton (.361 BA) are other top hitters. Pitcher Kayley Zazzali has a 1.84 ERA. Fort Meade lost the regular-season meeting to LCS by a run so the Miners will contend for the district title. Kenya Faulk (.484 BA, 12 XBH, 31 RBIs), Gracie Taylor (.360 BA), Mia Cabrera (.396 BA), Cai Johnson (.358 BA) and Marleigh Carroll (.475 BA) are the top hitters. Maisy Schiller (.615 BA) and Violet Hammen (.469 BA) are the top hitters for Santa Fe.
Prediction: LCS over Fort Meade for the district title. The Vikings played just a couple of strong teams, so how they'll stack up in the playoffs is a big unknown. Both teams should make the playoffs, and Santa Fe, which is seeded No. 8 in the region, could also slip in.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: High school softball: Here's how the district tournaments shape up
