First Coast Varsity Weekly: Regional final or graduation? Clay softball gets both in Sunday ceremony

Ema Martin had a choice: Championship or graduation?

And when she made that choice, Martin — and several of her Clay High School softball teammates — wondered if one of their traditional milestone moments might be vanishing forever.

"We were kind of upset at first, and then we were like, 'Nope, it's good,'" the senior infielder said. "We're going to have our own moment, we'll be OK."

Surrounded by family, friends and teammates, five Clay softball teammates gathered Sunday night at the Green Cove Springs school's football field for the school's second graduation ceremony — just two days after they missed the original graduation to represent the Blue Devils in the regional championship.

Clay was among four Clay County softball teams whose seniors faced the wrenching decision last week — whether to attend high school graduation ceremonies, which were scheduled countywide for Friday night, or whether to travel with the team to play in Friday night's Florida High School Athletic Association Class 4A regional championship.

For three of those schools, the situation resolved itself. Baldwin agreed to move its Class 3A game against Keystone Heights up to Thursday night, as did Tallahassee Lincoln for its Class 5A playoff against Middleburg. And after a day of tension and uncertainty, weather intervened for Oakleaf, soaking its scheduled Class 7A contest against Lake Brantley hours in advance and pushing that contest back to Saturday.

But Clay and West Florida — some six hours away in the Panhandle — were unable to reach a satisfactory time to reschedule their game, because of a combination of pre-scheduled events, FHSAA regulations and academic scheduling.

"When we found out we were going to play on Friday night, we had to do something for them," said Clay softball coach Matt Lewis. "We were going to do something small on the softball field, just the team and everything, and it's kind of morphed itself into being out here on the field.

"When we were going to take down in the stadium everything on the stage, I said, 'Let's just go out and do it on the stage.'"

So the stage was there Sunday night, with the flags and the blue and white flowers and the county officials, from school board members to Clay County sheriff Michelle Cook to Clay County District Schools superintendent David Broskie. 

And the Blue Devils were there, too, walking to the stage to receive their diplomas under the setting sun.

"Tonight we celebrate the accomplishments and the obstacles you've overcome," principal Jennifer Halter told graduates during the ceremony, "including Friday night."

As it turned out, the seniors who made the trip ensured that Friday's game wasn't their last in Clay's blue and white, fighting to victory in a veritable softball marathon. After nine innings of deadlock, McKinsey Bardroff bashed a triple in the 10th inning, and it was one of the seniors, Abby Rutledge, who raced to the plate to score the game-winning run of Clay's 1-0 win at West Florida.

Along with Martin and Rutledge, Sydney Davis, Kierstyn Mann and Gabby Wiseman were also recognized at the ceremony.

Graduation day is now in the books, but for these Blue Devils, the season isn't. They'll be on the road again, not quite as far as Pensacola this time, traveling to Legends Way Ball Fields in Clermont for Thursday's state semifinal against Deltona.

"I think that it was a great way for the community to come together, everybody supporting us," senior infielder Wiseman said. "And it's a lot of support, a lot more than I expected. Everywhere I go now, everyone's just congratulating us, saying how proud they are of us and how sad they are that we missed graduation.

"But this was definitely a lot better here."

High school softball stats: Northeast Florida year-end statistics leaders

Final five for Tigers' Grayson Howard

Grayson Howard is making his list.

The Jackson star announced his five finalists as the recruiting chase picks up speed for the junior linebacker, among Northeast Florida's most coveted prospects for the Class of 2023.

Making the list for the All-First Coast prospect are Clemson, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Texas A&M.

Howard, a four-star recruit, is ranked as a top-20 outside linebacker prospect in the nation by ESPN.

As a junior, he recorded 157 tackles, 14 for loss, with two interceptions, a forced fumble and six pass defenses while leading the Tigers into the FHSAA regional playoffs.

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Bishop Snyder honors nine signees

Bishop Snyder wrapped up its high school season with a signing ceremony on Friday, including four players from the Cardinals' boys basketball squad.

Signing for Bishop Snyder basketball were Jalen Gilmore (Lynn), Nick Lowery (Warner), Manok Lual (Enterprise State) and Trenton Walker (Hagerstown).

Also signing from the Cardinals were Donald Dempsey (Jacksonville University, men's cross country), Matthew Hildreth (Iowa Wesleyan, football), Kale Kellum (FSCJ, baseball), Ashton Karney (Trinity Baptist, baseball) and Nick Wrubluski (Jacksonville University, baseball).

Ten Oakleaf athletes sign

Oakleaf also celebrated a large signing class last week, with nearly a dozen Knights confirming their college athletic destinations.

Sydney Brown (Nicholls State, women's track), Ar'mon Cooper (Tusculum, football), Justin Day (Missouri Valley, football), Arianna Eason (Bethune-Cookman, women's track), Kayla Havens (Bluefield State, women's track), Jalen Jones (Bluefield State, men's track), Aiden Motte (St. Cloud Tech, baseball), Wyatt Nordean (Missouri Valley, football), Donovan Roberts (Trinity Baptist, men's soccer) and Dylan Stubbs (Florida State, football).

Oakleaf is also among the handful of teams still to play a spring football game. The Knights are scheduled to travel to Bradford's David Hurse Stadium in Starke at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

Keystone's Lowery wins lifting coach honor

Lantz Lowery of Keystone Heights won the Florida Dairy Farmers Boys Weightlifting coach of the year, after leading the team to a second consecutive FHSAA championship in Class 1A.

Keystone repeated as Class 1A traditional champion and won the inaugural FHSAA title in the snatch category.

Keystone's Ulysses Freed was named the Class 1A weightlifter of the year for his  victories in the 154-pound class, and Suwannee's Ricardo Garcia won Class 2A weightlifter of the year after winning both traditional and snatch competitions at 119 pounds. Dan Marsee of Suwannee won the Class 2A top coach honor.

The state's Mr. Weightlifting award went to Julian Sykes of St. Cloud.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: First Coast Varsity Weekly: Clay holds special graduation for softball seniors