Varsity Weekly: East Ridge softball shines while Montverde sweeps Chipotle basketball titles
It’s been quite a week for the Clermont East Ridge softball team.
After reaching a Kissimmee Klassic tournament championship game but falling short over the weekend, the Knights (12-4) rebounded with a 1-0 walk-off win in eight innings Tuesday against Horizon (15-2).
Junior Sydney Ralstin scored the run. Amberlynn Collins and Nei Nei DeJesus had East Ridge’s only hits of the game. Senior pitcher McKenna DeMartino held Horizon to eight baserunners on 5 hits and 3 walks.
DeMartino was named George Coffey MVP at the Klassic, where the Knights went 3-1 in the Gold Bracket. East Ridge lost 8-4 to Viera (14-3) in Saturday’s title game.
Sophomore Veronica Peterson, who went 8-for-10 with 4 extra-base hits, was named the tournament’s Outstanding Offensive Player. She is batting .644 for the season (38-for-9) with 28 runs and 27 RBI.
Melbourne (21-0) won 1-0 in the Klassic Blue Bracket final vs. Bartow (19-1).
Eustis (14-0), state No. 1 in 4A, plays at 7A Lake Mary (9-10) on Friday night.
Alexis Felker hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning Tuesday to give Hagerty (17-4) a 2-1 win vs. Lake Brantley (12-5). Winning pitcher Rachel Matthiesen struck out 8 in a 3-hitter.
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Basketball champs
Montverde Academy’s basketball boys team wrapped up a historic 33-0 season and its girls squad made it a sweep in Saturday’s Chipotle Nationals tournament in Indiana.
The boys defeated second seed Paul VI (35-3) of Virginia 79-63 to win the tournament (formerly GEICO Nationals) for the seventh time in 11 years.
Curtis Givens, a LSU commit, came off Montverde’s bench to make six 3-point shots and total 24 points for the Eagles. Derik Queen (Maryland) had 19 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists and tourney MVP Cooper Flagg (Duke) added 16 points and 8 rebounds.
Montverde beat Class 7A state champ Miami Columbus 84-70 in the semifinal round.
Montverde’s girls (24-4) notched their third straight nationals title with a 61-53 win vs. IMG Academy of Bradenton.
Boys volleyball
Winter Park (14-0) jumped to No. 1 in the FHSAA rankings after going 5-0 to win last weekend’s Orlando Classic. The Wildcats met tourney host Freedom (11-3) in the final and after pulling out a tight 28-26 set sealed the title with a 25-13 Game 2 win.
No. 4-ranked Lake Howell (18-1), which has lost only to Winter Park, won the Bash at the Beach tournament at Spruce Creek.
Lacrosse
FHSAA lacrosse district tournaments are underway and stretch into next week.
Lake Mary’s boys are 17-1 and No. 1 in 2A going into a Monday night District 4 semifinal. The Rams host the final next Wednesday.
Other boys top seeds are Lake Highland Prep (11-2) in 1A-5, West Orange (10-5) in 2A-5, Winter Park (8-6) in 2A-6, and Lake Nona (8-6) in 2A-7.
Top-seeded girls teams are Hagerty (15-3) in 2A-5, Lake Highland Prep (14-3) in 1A-7, Lake Mary (11-5) in 2A-4, East Ridge (12-3) in 2A-6, and Horizon (10-6) in 1A-6.
Flag football finals
Seven area teams held Top 25 MaxPreps rankings going into Thursday district finals.
Jones is No. 4 in 1A. The 2A rankings include: No. 6 Harmony, No. 12 Timber Creek, No. 17 Dr. Phillips, No. 20 Horizon, No. 21 Winter Park and No. 25 Boone.
The 1A region quarterfinals will be played next Wednesday with 2A quarters the next day.
Water polo
Dr. Phillips (25-2), No. 1 in boys water polo per MaxPreps, is the top seed in Region 2, which has finals Friday in the Rosen Aquatic Center at 3 (girls) and 4 p.m. (boys). West Orange (21-5) is the girls top seed.
Seminole’s girls were 27-0 and ranked No. 1 going into a Wednesday semifinal home game. The ‘Noles will host Region 1 finals on Friday at 5 (girls) and 6 (boys).
Tennis
Lake Nona’s powerhouse tennis program wrapped up its regular season with both the girls (17-0) and boys (16-0) undefeated.
The Lions host their 4A district tournament Monday and Tuesday at the USTA National Campus.
Boys weightlifting
Last week’s 3A Region 2 meet, hosted by Freedom, had a highly competitive team title race.
In Traditional competition, Winter Springs scored 28 points to top East River (27), Oviedo (25), Hagerty (24) and Windermere (21).
East River was dominant in the Olympic techniques, scoring 44 points ahead of Winter Springs, Lake Howell and Hagerty, which each earned 27.
St. Cloud was the Traditional winner in 3A-4, where Olympic Heights of Boca Raton won the Olympic crown.
Leesburg won the 2A-2 Olympic title and placed second behind New Smyrna Beach in Traditional.
The FHSAA finals are April 19-20 in Lakeland.
Track and field
Winter Springs senior U’Nitee Brown, coming off two girls weightlifting championships in February, is the area leader in two throwing events. She heaved the shot put 42 feet, 1½ inches at The Florida Relays last month and last week uncorked a leading discus throw of 119-3 ¾ at the Hagerty Invitational.
Here are this season’s top area performances by event, with Lake Minneola junior Kai Evans leading the way:
(*denotes state leader)
Boys event leaders
100: Kai Evans, Lake Minneola, 10.49
200: Evans, 21.17
400: Jose Calderon, Gateway, 48.95
800: Rashad Hemissi, Apopka, 1:54.83
1,600: Jonathan Leon, Hagerty, 4:16.33
3,200: Leon, Hagerty, 9:04.42
110 hurdles: Evans, 13.93
400 hurdles: Evans, 51.73*
4×100: Seminole 42.00
4×400: Apopka 3:22.38
4×800: Montverde, 7:50.13
High jump: Jordin Smith, Edgewater, 6-7½
Long jump: Noah Tribe,Harmony, 22-3½
Triple jump: Devin Girtman, West Orange, 46-4¼
Pole vault: Alex Georgiev, MVA, 16-4¾*
Shot put: Diego De Pina, Ocoee, 51-6¾
Discus: Kamal Harris, Olympia, 160-6
Javelin: Owen York, DeLand, 176-11
Girls event leaders
100: Dasia Reed, MVA, 11.45
200: Adaejah Hodge, MVA, 23.58
400: Alivia Williams, MVA, 52.30*
800: Ava Wyant, Master’s, 2:14.06
1,600: Ava Wyant, Master’s, 4:58.18
3,200: Rhyen Foley, East Ridge, 10:59.48
100 hurdles: Michelle Smith, MVA, 14.12
400 hurdles: Smith, 56.82*
4×100: Seminole, 47.58
4×400: Montverde, 3:37.94
4×800: East Ridge, 9:42.51400 hurdles: Smith, 56.82*
High jump: Amaya Bien-AIme Edgewater, 5-7½
Long jump: Omaria Gordon, Olympia, 19-10½
Triple jump: Jizelle Holland, MVA, 39-5¼
Shot put: U’Nitee Brown, Winter Springs, 42-1½
Discus: Brown, 119-3¾
Javelin: Taylin Duncan, Lake Mary, 123-9
Pole vault: Kyle Neira, DeLand, 13-0¼*
(abbreviations: LHP for Lake Highland Prep; OCP for Orlando Christian Prep; MVA for Montverde.
Extra points
• Florida Dairy Farmers named Josh Boyer of 2A state champ Leesburg as state girls weightlifting coach of the year. New Smyrna Beach sophomore Olivia Bond-West earned the Miss Weightlifting award. She won Olympic and Traditional titles with 460 totals and broke the state record for the 183-pound weight class with a 260 clean-and-jerk.
• Nate Hughes, who elevated the Foundation Academy’s boys basketball program with a 60-39 record over four seasons, is leaving at the end of the school year to become the first athletic director for Baptist University of Florida. He said that small college, located in Graceville in the Panhandle, plans to launch men’s basketball, women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s cross country, baseball and softball in the 2025-26 school year.
This article originally appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email varsity content editor Buddy Collings at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com and staff reporter J.C. Carnahan at jcarnahan@orlandosentinel.com.
