4A Road To The Final Four: Fierce Battles

Consistent hallmarks of the districts in Class 4A are tough competition and fierce battles. Throughout the season, these teams have fought each other with just a few managing to pull out perfect records in the division. Many of the other teams are around .500 or just a little above or just a little below. It’s that competitive energy that many of the teams wouldn’t trade for anything, as it has prepared them for the state playoffs. It should be a fun next week of exciting skirmishes in the 4A districts all across the state.

Region Two

District Three

Competition in this district has been strong all season, with the top three teams having two losses or fewer. Trinity Catholic has the top seed. The Celtics have district losses to The First Academy and Windermere Prep, which is seeded second.

The First Academy is seeded third. The Royals have won two in a row down the stretch going into the district tournament. They open Tuesday against Windermere Prep, a team they lost to 6-2 earlier in the season.

Fourth-seeded Trinity Prep may be the hottest team in the district, as they’re coming into the tournament having won seven of their past eight. Father Lopez rounds out the seeding at fifth.

District Four

Berkeley Prep, ranked seventh in the Tampa region, heads this district with a shiny 10-0 record. Calvary Christian follows at 7-3, and Tampa Catholic and Tampa Prep are third and fourth, respectively, at 5-5 and 4-6.

The Buccaneers feature three hitters above .400. Tyler Fagler is tops at .467, and Julian Bosnic (.453) and Spencer Myers (.408) follow. Bosnic also is the team’s top pitcher at 5-1 with 75 strikeouts (second-most in the region) and a 1.04 ERA in 40.1 innings.

Graham Hoffman paces Calvary Christian, which has lost just two games since March 10th, batting .404 with 10 runs and 21 RBIs. Eric Kennedy is hitting .382 with a team-leading 19 runs.

Jordan Lala at .442 is the top hitter for Tampa Catholic. Garrett Back is next at .394 with 12 runs, and Anthony Enriquez is batting .366.

Region Three

District Five

Cardinal Mooney, ranked fifth in Southwest Florida, heads this small district at 3-0. The Cougars have been hot down the stretch, winning their past seven games. They open the tournament against fourth-seeded Gateway Charter. Christian Maglich is one of two batters hitting .400 or better for the Cougars. Maglich has scored 20 runs and driven in a team-leading 21 to go with his .417 average. Tommy Hubbard is hitting right at .400 with 20 runs. The team includes five other batters above .300, led by Parker Shanahan at .394.

The Cougars have a pair of pitchers at 6-1: Alex Rodman (45 strikeouts, 0.99 ERA, 35.1 innings) and Spencer Stevens (34 strikeouts, 0.33 ERA, 43.0 innings). Michael Richey is batting .425 with a team-leading 26 RBIs and a .753 slugging percentage for the Vikings, who have won three in a row. Gunnar Byrd (.421, 14 runs) is the team’s other hitter above .400.

District Six

District Six is one of the most competitive districts in Palm Beach County with all but two of seven teams winning at least half of their games. Some of the strongest small-school teams in the county year in and year out are featured among the top teams in this district. Benjamin, the number one team in the county, has managed an 11-0 record.

Second-seeded King’s Academy is next at 7-5. The Lions are led by Dylan Costa and his .543 average, ranked second in the county. His 25 runs lead the team and are eighth-best in the county. Austin Sharkey is hitting .385 with 20 runs and 14 RBIs.

Third-seeded American Heritage-Delray ended its regular season with a 2-0 loss to its Broward County counterpart, Plantation American Heritage, but the Stallions are always a team to beat under veteran manager Carm Mazza. They are scrappy and keep their games competitive. Justin Barney is 5-3 with 49 strikeouts and a 1.38 ERA in 45.2 innings.

Fourth-seeded Saint John Paul II and fifth-seeded Cardinal Newman are two other teams in the district that also are scrappy and play many close games with their opponents.

Region Four

District Seven

This has been one of the most competitive districts in the state over the past several years, clustering together perennial powerhouse teams in the South Florida region. Teams that have traditionally produced playoff-caliber teams battle each other district game after district game. No one is undefeated in this district. The top team, Calvary Christian, is 10-2. SLAM follows at 9-3, and University School is third at 8-4. Fourth-seeded Chaminade-Madonna is 7-5, and Westminster Academy is fifth at 5-7.

The Eagles, who lost their past two games, feature one of the top 10 offensive players in the county in Max Guzman. He’s hitting .491 with nine home runs (most in the county), 25 runs and 25 RBIs. His slugging percentage is 1.113. Christian Scott is 5-0 with a 0.68 ERA and 37 strikeouts in 30.2 innings.

SLAM has some dangerous hitters. Jose Garcia is batting .507 with 30 RBIs and an .840 slugging percentage to power SLAM. His average is seventh-best in the county and his RBIs fifth-best. Jeter Downs is hitting .461 with a county-leading 38 runs and 31 RBIs (fourth-best). He has seven home runs. Brian Frias has scored 32 runs (fifth-best) and driven in 22, while hitting .423. Andres Santana is hitting right at .400, and his 28 RBIs are tied for sixth-best in the county.

University School’s Josh Laprest leads Broward County in RBIs at 34.

District Eight

Westminster Christian and Florida Christian are two of the best teams in Miami-Dade in any classification year in and year out, and they duke it out in this district with five other schools. The Patriots lead the district at 6-0, and the Warriors are just behind at 5-1. Third-seeded Coral Shores, fourth-seeded Ransom Everglades and fifth-seeded Palmer Trinity each have 3-3 records in the district.

Christian Coipel leads the Patriots, who finished the regular season with a win over Brito. He’s hitting .538 (third-best in Miami-Dade) with 27 runs and 20 RBIs. Coipel has hit five homers and has a .969 slugging percentage. Coipel also is one of the top pitchers at 4-1 with 37 strikeouts and a 2.33 ERA in 27.0 innings. Danny Vazquez is 5-1 with 41 strikeouts and a 2.46 ERA in 37.0 innings. Cristian Martin, who is batting .471 with 19 runs and 20 RBIs, has a .961 slugging percentage.

Eleven-time state champion Westminster Christian gets a big bat from Luis Aviles, who is hitting .373 with 18 runs and 23 RBIs. Max Pinto has scored 27 times and is hitting .333, and Jacob Zarello is also hitting .333 with 17 runs, 28 RBIs and five home runs. The Warriors are coming into the tournament having won their past two games.

***Editor’s Note: All stats used in this article were from the time of publication. They may have changed slightly since then.

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