There is a banner on the outfield fence that highlights the state championship Jay won a year ago in softball.
There are also banners that note the district, regional and state final four trips the Royals have made over the years, but no three-year stretch has been more impressive program then the one that ended last week.
The dream of a repeat as state champions for Jay’s softball team came to an end early Monday afternoon in Clermont.
A scoreless battle most of the way, Branford scored twice in the sixth and held off a seventh-inning rally attempt by the Royals to secure a 2-1 win in a 1A state semifinal at the Legends Way Ball Fields.
Shelby Crooks sent a ball soaring through the night sky and over the outfield wall Friday that, while not the final dagger in this Region 1-6A final against Hagerty, it was, in a way, a ‘we’re going to Clermont’ kind of moment.
It was the third inning, and the Patriots led 5-0 after Crooks crossed home plate and disappeared into a huddle of cheering teammates, who had poured out of the dugout moments earlier smiling and jumping up and down.
Milton and Pace football fans alike began to fill the stands in Hurley Manning Field Thursday night as if it was a regular season game between the Panthers and the Patriots.
However, this wasn’t the case. This was just the beginning of a new season, and it all starts with the spring game.
Patrick Monteverde has been downright brilliant for the Pensacola Blue Wahoos this season. That didn’t change last Wednesday night in a 7-4 win over the Tennessee Smokies.
Monteverde, the Southern League Player of the Week in April, improved to 5-0 on the season as he helped the Double-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins stretch their win streak to 10 games.
Everyone knows about Jayden Heavener and Shelby McKenzie. The two Division I commits get the bulk of the attention when it comes to Pace softball.
But Riley Forbes is pretty good in her own right. And in a Region 1-6A semifinal Wednesday night, all eyes were on the senior standout after she crushed a lead-off home run over the wall in center, the ball landing on the roof of the batting cage behind it.
Brett Watson needed to go jump in on a picture her team was getting ready to have taken on the infield.
Her Jay teammates, newly minted as Region 1-1A champs, were waiting for her, the trophy in their possession, their ticket to the state final four signed, sealed and delivered.
Ethan McDonald and his Jay teammates watched from the dugout late Saturday night as Holmes County celebrated a return to the state final four.
Already feeling the pain of a 9-7 extra-inning defeat, already heartbroken that the dream of winning this Region 1-1A title had been ripped away, watching another team wrapped up in a moment of pure joy was simply one more paper cut for the Royals on a hand already full of them.
The Jay Royals moved one step closer to a repeat as 1A state softball champions after rolling past Freeport 10-0 Thursday night at home.
The Royals were scheduled to play Northview Tuesday night for the Region 1-1A crown and the right to advance to the state tourney May 22-23 at Legends Way Ball Fields in Clermont.
Two weeks into spring practice, Milton head coach Kelly Gillis likes what he sees from his team.
There have been injuries to deal and some starters to replace due to graduation, but the Panthers have clearly taken steps forward.
