East Bay Baseball Falls in Opening Round of State Playoffs

By FRANCIS FEDOR
francisfotography@outlook.com

South Shore Six (SS6) HS sports continue to wind down with only Lennard (Flag Football) and East Bay (Baseball and Softball) continuing on in their respective sports.
Starting with East Bay Indian’s baseball, the squad spent the weekend in Charlotte, playing the Tarpons in a best-of-three set in the second round of the FHSAA State Playoffs. The Indians fell behind early, seeing the Tarpons post a three-run first and two-run second inning to jump out to the five-run advantage. The Indians used back-to-back walks, a single and a wild at-bat with Qwenlen Bennett at the plate. Tarpon hurler Rylan Bradley unleashed a wild pitch that scored

Trendon Norman. Ethan Cunningham scored on a separate wild pitch in the same plate appearance. The Indians scored two more in the inning to pull within a run, but Charlotte added two more in the bottom of the inning and two in the sixth to add the insurance runs to close out a 9-4 win in the opening game.
East Bay generated more offense in the second game of the series, scoring eight runs, but it was not enough to stave off elimination, and the Tarpons completed the two-game sweep to advance. Charlotte also scored more in the opener for the 12-8 win. The game was tied at three after the first inning, but the Tarpons posted a four-run second, using three walks, a single and the key hit, a double from Aiden Long that drove in two of the four runs. Johnathan Bryant doubled twice in the loss, and Ethan Cunningham doubled and drove in a pair of runs. Connor Gavigan contributed a two-hit effort for the Indians. East Bay concludes another strong season but will lose four key contributors from its starting lineup in Jeffrey Diab, Trenden Norman, Rowland Ruiz Jr., and Johnathan Bryant. The leadership of those four will aid Rowland Ruiz and his coaching staff in the legacy they leave with the Indians. Connor Gavigan, as well as fellow juniors Qwenlen Bennett and Jonathan Brito, will take the torch from the departing seniors and carry the team forward. Flag Football moved into the state playoff rounds, and Lennard is the only remaining South Shore representative.

The Lennard Longhorns took another step towards an appearance in the Buccaneers practice bubble where the state semifinals and finals will be held on May 14-16. The Longhorns matched-up against Bloomingdale on April 29 in the

first round of the state regionals. The Bulls used a 20-0 win over Sumner in the district finals to enter the state playoffs as a first-round host. Lennard entered the playoffs on a strong state ranking and were coming off a home loss to the Stingrays on a final minute Sumner score. Lennard seized the momentum, scoring twice on throws from Hayden Schofield to freshman Braelyn Simpson and then finding Makenzie Walker before the Bulls could find the scoreboard late in the game. The Longhorns answered shortly after to ice the game with Schofield’s hooking up with Jocelyn Brush for the TD. The defense contributed two momentum killing interceptions to hold Bloomingdale at bay. The Longhorns move on to face the Plant Panthers on May 4 in Tampa. Lennard lost a two-overtime thriller to Plant, 26-20, on April 7 in Ruskin and looks to avenge that loss and continue its quest for a state championship.

Softball wrapped up its district tournament play with only the Sumner Stingrays advancing to the state regionals. The Rays will travel to Sarasota to open Region 3 play on May 7 vs. the Sailors. The Stingrays lost on the road against the Sailors on March 6, 9-5. Sarasota, at 20-4 and ranked 28 in FLA, comes into the tournament as a two-seed and won its district, defeating Venice, 7-4, whereas Sumner enters as a seven-seed. The Stingrays fell to Plant City in the FHSAA Semifinals, 8-1, and the Raiders went on to lose to Newsome for the district title. Sumner, at 9-13, comes into the game vs. Sarasota looking to snap a four-game losing streak and return to the team that opened the season, winning six of nine. Victoria Baker leads the Stingrays in batting average at .556, and she also leads in earned run average at 3.05 but saw limited time in the circle. Senior Aliyanis Stubbs was the primary starter for coach Autum Hernandez and

made 17 appearances and struck out 87 with a 3.42 ERA, bettering a 4.20 in 2025.

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