Gateway Conference: Gritty Fletcher baseball races past Sandalwood, Baldwin softball repeats

Angel Oquendo stood on third base and watched ball meet glove in the outfield, and he knew his decision time had arrived.

The choice: one word. Go.

"I was confident I was going to make it," the Fletcher senior shortstop said. "I'm pretty quick on my feet."

Oquendo raced home from third base with the Gateway Conference-winning run on Davis Manabat's sixth-inning sacrifice fly, leading the host Senators past Sandalwood 3-2 for the Duval County Public Schools baseball title Friday night at Frank Hoye Field.

They're 19-2, and they're not done.

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Fletcher, rallying from a two-run hole, wrapped up a long-awaited title for a squad packed with 15 seniors.

"These guys, they've worked hard for it and it's awesome for them," said Fletcher coach Michael Grillo, who won his 100th game in charge of the Senators. "So I'm super pumped."

After calling on their twin aces to begin the Gateway tournament, Malachi Witherspoon against Paxon in the quarters and Kyson Witherspoon against First Coast in Thursday's semis, the Senators leaned on gritty pitching from Andrew Veniard. The senior yielded only two hits in five innings and battled through a rocky spell.

Veniard cruised early before his command began to drift in the fourth: a single, walk, another walk and consecutive bases-loaded hit batsmen gave Sandalwood (17-3) a 2-0 edge.

Still, through the trouble, Grillo stuck with his pitcher.

"We've got all the confidence in the world in him," Grillo said.

The decision paid off. Veniard worked out of the bases-loaded jam, and Kyson Witherspoon tied it up in the bottom half, a no-doubt-about-it blast to left center that also scored twin brother Malachi Witherspoon.

Sandalwood's Cooper Whited pitched out of a two-on, one-out jam in the fifth, but Fletcher finally broke through in the sixth.

Oquendo doubled hard to left and Kyson Witherspoon moved him up with a grounder to second. Then, on Manabat's one-out fly, Oquendo tagged and charged to the plate for the go-ahead run well ahead of the throw from Sandalwood's Tanner Reed.

That was all that Fletcher's Vinnie Sicilia needed. The senior captain, summoned from the bullpen, retired six consecutive Saints with some help from a diving grab by right fielder Jacob Harman in the top of the seventh.

Fletcher secured its first Gateway baseball title since 2019.

"It feels amazing," Sicilia said. "I've always dreamed of it, always wanted to be here, especially against a rival team. It's even better when we could beat them."

Baldwin back-to-back in softball

Make it 14 games in a row in Baldwin.

And two in a row in the Gateway Conference list.

A young Baldwin squad poured on the runs late to pull away from visiting Mandarin 9-3 on Friday night, winning the school's second consecutive Gateway Conference softball championship on a night of cheers and fireworks.

Kendall North went 3 for 3 with three runs batted in, including a key two-RBI double in the fifth inning, to lead the charge back from an early deficit.

Despite their dominant record, coming from behind was nothing new for Baldwin in the Gateway tournament. They also fought back in the semifinal against Paxon, when they trailed 1-0 in the sixth and needed Riley Page's walk-off double to seal the victory.

This time, Mandarin took a 2-1 lead in the top of the fourth after an error, which came after a two-out double by Anastasia Suhetskis. But Baldwin tied the score on a Kayla Robinson home run in the bottom half and took the lead on Chloe Stepherson's single.

North's fifth-inning double stretched the edge to 6-2, before Cali Hartung removed all doubt with a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth.

Chloe Gotto went 2 for 3 and scored three runs for the home team, winners of their last 14 games going back to an eight-inning 4-3 loss to Baker County on March 17.

The trophies may not be finished. Baldwin (20-1), which had never previously won a Gateway softball title before last season, currently stands seventh in the Florida High School Athletic Association rankings with one week to go before district tournaments.

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: Fletcher wins Gateway Conference baseball tournament, Baldwin softball repeats