Lexi Alexander was an athlete at Milton. Her dad, Danny Worrell, coached there. In fact, he coached her in softball during her days as a Panther.
But on a Friday night in late May at the Legends Way Ballfields in Clermont, the two were together on the field as coaches celebrating the thrill of leading Pace to a 6A state championship in softball.
West Florida Baptist Academy’s baseball team had a season to remember, winning a National Association of Christian Athletes national championship earlier this month in Tennessee.
“We played our best baseball of the season in the tournament,” head coach Chris Lunsford said.
Chase Dooley hasn’t stopped getting work in since his freshman season of weightlifting at Jay came to an end in April.
He now lifts for 3P out of Pace, a gym headed up by Joey Paladino, who helps coach at Milton but also consistently takes lifters to nationals.
Central’s Corbin James recently signed a national letter of intent to run cross-country at Coastal Alabama.
Earlier this year at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland, the senior standout athlete competed at the 1A state weightlifting meet for the first time in his athletic career.
Jayden Heavener wasn’t expecting a home run when she stepped up to the plate in the third inning of Friday’s 6A state championship softball game.
She just wanted to hit the ball. When it left the park at the Legends Way Ballfields in Clermont, it changed the game.
Shelby Crooks popped the ball up into foul territory behind first base and as soon as the ball dropped into the glove for an out, she just hoped and prayed Pace teammate Mallory Baker, standing at third, would make it home.
Pace’s softball team is in the 6A state final four for the fourth consecutive year.
And while the mission is to bring home a championship after falling short the last three years, the players are also taking time to appreciate the moment of being one of the state’s elite teams.
Duane Raley was in the middle of an interview when his Jay players came up from behind and drenched him with cups of ice water.
The head coach reacted to the initial shock of the chill, raising his arms, taking off his hat and wiping water off his head. He then turned to his players and smiled, literally soaking up the joy of being the coach of a state champion.
It was a pretty good week for area athletes at the FHSAA state track meet.
Pace and Central both had athletes competing in their respective classifications and every athlete from both schools performed well. Most finished in the top 10.
