First Coast Varsity Weekly: Young Baldwin softball rolls to Gateway Conference tournament
An eighth-grader batting leadoff.
A seventh-grader whacking nearly a double per game.
Baldwin softball is younger than ever — and the formula is working.
The reigning Gateway Conference champions are on a roll once more ahead of the Gateway Conference softball tournament, which begins April 10.
Despite a rash of injuries, including hard-hitting junior catcher Cali Hartung, Baldwin's winning ways are going strong after Thursday's 10-2 victory against Paxon in what could be a preview of next week's Gateway tournament.
And whether it's Shaylen Byrd taking over the lead pitching role from the graduated Piper Young, or middle schoolers stepping into the void left by injured regulars, the new wave is showing that it's ready to race toward a repeat visit to the Florida High School Athletic Association final four.
Eighth-grader Amiyah Jones has slotted in comfortably in the leadoff role, batting .390 in a breakthrough that's impressed head coach Jennifer Shields.
"Amiyah has so much speed, and that's what we're looking for," Shields said after the Paxon game. "She can bunt and beat it out. She hit one almost to the fence and the girl made an amazing catch. She's got all the tools."
Next in the pipeline is seventh-grader Madison Crews, hitting .417, who doubled twice against Paxon to bring her total to four since her promotion from junior varsity last month.
And amid the middle schoolers' emergence, it's easy to forget that some of the team's most established stars, like Chloe Gotto and Jazmine Ramos-Merced, are still in their freshman years. Both belted home runs against Paxon.
Entering the week, the FHSAA ranks Baldwin (11-1) sixth in Class 3A and second in Region 1-3A behind Episcopal. They're expected to receive the top seed for Monday's start to the Gateway tournament, an event they won in 2021 and 2022.
"It's fun to watch," Shields said. "Each season, they get better and better."
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Major Mustang month ahead?
With a half-dozen Gateway Conference trophies already in the bag, can Mandarin further add to its collection in the next two weeks?
Already a six-sport Gateway champion this year (bowling, boys and girls cross country, volleyball, girls basketball and boys soccer), the team in green and orange is a prime contender in several more Duval County public school tournaments rolling out in the coming two weeks.
First on deck is Gateway track and field, set for Thursday at Wolfson. Raines has won the last two boys titles but could come under pressure from Ribault, Sandalwood or Mandarin, which got another record performance from senior Gavin Nelson in the 1,600 meters (4:13.63) at the Florida Relays.
Mandarin is also the two-time defending girls track champion, and brings a deep team that includes recent school record-setter Elaina Williams (1:11.03 in the 400 hurdles) and Florida Relays shot put runner-up Aliyah Robertson.
Also next week is the Gateway flag football tournament from April 11-13, with Stanton as the defending champion after topping Mandarin by a touchdown last spring.
Finally, the Gateway Conference baseball tournament arrives from April 17-21, with games on a Monday-Tuesday-Thursday-Friday schedule. Fletcher edged current top seed Sandalwood last year, while Mandarin is again among the 2023 contenders, a group that also includes First Coast and Wolfson.
Fletcher (girls swimming, girls soccer, wrestling), Stanton (boys swimming, girls golf), Atlantic Coast (boys golf), Paxon (girls weightlifting) and Ribault (boys basketball) own the season's other Gateway trophies.
Mandarin also won six Gateway titles in 2021-22 (bowling, boys and girls cross country, boys swimming, girls track and girls weightlifting).
Wildcats' Wilder a national wrestling champion
Camden County wrestler Ryder Wilder is officially a national champion.
Wilder won the 182-pound division for freshmen at last week's National High School Coaches Association Nationals at the Virginia Beach Sports Center. In all, nine wrestlers from Jacksonville-area high schools, five in Georgia and four in Florida, received All-American honors at the 34th annual competition.
Other top boys finishers were Yulee's Alex Smith, third in the 195-pound sophomore division; Camden County's Bradley Patterson, fourth at sophomore 106; Brunswick's Anthony Lowe, fifth at junior 195; Camden County's Anthony Santos, seventh at junior 132; and Camden County's Joseph Schulze, eighth at freshman 285.
All-American local girls were Middleburg's Cheyenne Cruce, runner-up at 185 pounds; Bartram Trail's Katherine Stewart, fifth at 152 pounds; and Oakleaf's Kailani Barrientos, sixth at 126 pounds.
Suwannee tops district weightlifting meet
When it comes to the weights, don't mess with Suwannee.
The Live Oak school dominated the traditional and Olympic standings in the FHSAA District 5-1A boys weightlifting championships, hoisting 17 of a potential 20 individual district titles. The Bulldogs previously topped the girls weightlifting tournament in the winter.
West Nassau topped the District 6-1A list in traditional and Olympic categories, with Keystone Heights on top in District 7-1A and Fleming Island in District 4-2A.
The tightest area contest was in District 3-2A, where Middleburg edged Baker County by two points in the Olympic standings and by 19 in traditional. District 5-2A led to a split, with Tocoi Creek leading the traditional category but Matanzas on top in Olympic lifting.
Weightlifting regionals continue through the weekend. Weigh-ins begin for Region 2-2A at St. Augustine at 12 p.m. Wednesday; in Region 1-3A at Flagler Palm Coast at 7 a.m. Saturday; in Region 1-2A at Suwannee at 5 p.m. Friday; and in Region 2-1A at Suwannee at 4 p.m. Thursday.
Creekside's Miller soars at Florida Relays
Somehow, the clock says, Christian Miller didn't cross the finish line first.
But after climbing to fourth-fastest among national high schoolers in the 100-meter dash, the Creekside junior had plenty to celebrate.
Miller ran a blistering 10.22 in the 100 on Friday's opening of the Florida Relays in Gainesville, chopping his best time by a fifth of a second.
Yet it wasn't quite enough for a championship. That's because Montverde Academy's Issam Asinga, the nation's No. 1-ranked sprinter, ran 10.10 for first-place honors. It wasn't even the fastest time of the month for Asinga, who had run a wind-aided 10.06 — a time fast enough to qualify for Olympic semifinals in Tokyo.
Miller's 10.22 was the fastest 100 for any Northeast Florida high school athlete since Stanton's Kendal Williams ran 10.21 in 2014 to win the gold medal in the World Junior Championships in Eugene, Ore. He now stands fourth in the U.S. MileSplit list for 2023, behind only Asinga, Bobby Drake of Bremond (Texas) and Gatlin Bair of Burley (Idaho).
Creekside did have one first-place Florida Relays runner in Alyson Johnson, who won in style. The freshman crossed the line in 10:49.95 to win the girls 3,200, and she placed third in the 1,600.
Additional local runners-up included Beachside's Alexa Bohanon (girls javelin), Creekside's Jack Dravo (boys 3,200) and Ponte Vedra's Nathan Lebowitz (boys discus).
More feats from the track:
Friday will go down as a leap to remember for Kemani Wilson. The Bolles senior had never surpassed 22 and a half feet in competition in the boys long jump, but his mark of 23 feet, 6 3/4 inches not only won the event at the Florida Relays but moved him to fourth in the nation among wind-legal attempts this year.
Bolles junior Zee Curtis finished third in the girls discus with a personal-best throw of 141 feet, 3 inches.
In the Chandra Cheeseborough Invitational at Ribault, Sandalwood's Selena Rutland set a personal best triple jump of 36 feet, 4 1/4 inches and also won the high jump to lead the Saints girls to a team title.
At the Bear Classic in St. Johns County, Yulee's Tristen Evatt earned triple victories in the girls 100, long jump and triple jump.
Clayton Freeman covers high school sports and more for the Florida Times-Union. Follow him on Twitter at @CFreemanJAX.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: First Coast Varsity Weekly: Middle schoolers fuel Baldwin softball
