BEACONS

WESLEY CHAPEL — Wesley Chapel got another outstanding pitching performance from senior ace Aiden Nguyen and run-scoring hits from junior Josiah Guevara and senior Mills Carrillo to win its playoff opener over Orlando Innovation on April 24.

The Wildcats (16-8) survived the single-game elimination contest to move on to this week’s best-of-three series against Sebring (20-5) in the Class 5A region semifinals. Wesley Chapel will host the series, with the first game on Friday, May 1, and two games, if they are both needed, on Saturday, May 2.

The Wildcats are looking to return to the state final four for the third straight season, after finishing as the state runner-up last season.

Nguyen threw a complete game four-hitter, striking out 11 and only allowing an unearned run in the seventh inning.

Carillo led the way with a 2-for-3 outing at the plate, while fellow senior Dylan Pabon and junior Nolan Hartley also had two-hit games.

In the other Class 5A bracket, Cypress Creek rallied for four runs in the fifth inning to overcome Deltona in a 7-5 win.

Sophomore TJ Beatty doubled and drove in three runs to pace the Coyotes, now 16-9, while junior Gavin Shefsky drove in two runs and junior Deacon Turpin and senior Gavyn Mullis had doubles and each scored a run in the April 24 victory.

Junior Cooper Neale threw five innings to get the win, and Colton Burrmann pitched the final two innings, striking out two for his sixth save of the season. Burrmann has picked up a save in each of his last five appearances, allowing zero earned runs.

The Coyotes will take on No. 1 region seed Winter Springs (21-5) in a best-of-three series, with the Bears hosting on Friday, May 1 (one game) and Saturday, May 2 (one or two games, as needed).

Tennis teams head for state

The Wiregrass Ranch boys tennis team, and the girls team from Cypress Creek both won their region championships and will compete for Class 3A state championships in Altamonte Spring.

For the Coyotes, it will be the program’s first trip to state tennis. Cypress Creek beat Wesley Chapel 4-1 in the region championship, riding the 1-2-3 combination of Nicole Nguyen, Victoria Khokhryakova and Malak Aref. At line 1, Nguyen, a sophomore, defeated Sofia Evia 6-2, 6-1, while Khokhryakova posted a 6-1, 6-0 win over Ava Trigueros at line 2.

Aref was a 6-1, 6-0 winner at line 3, and then teamed up with Nguyen at No. 1 doubles for a 4-2, 4-4 (7-3) win.

For the Bulls, it will be the 12^th trip to state in the last 15 years, with three state championships to show for it.

As usual, they cruised through the regular season and the playoffs. In their 4-0 region championship win over Sebring, they didn’t even need the results of their top three singles players — Matthew Adanas, Cade Costin and Rishi Kala — because they played doubles first, and won both lines, and picked up singles victories from No. 5 Mikey Miller and No. 4 Aarav Shashikiran before any of the top three lines could finish.

Wiregrass Ranch is likely to be seeded No. 3 or 4 based on its cumulative team Universal Tennis Rating (UTR) at state, behind Osceola, Orlando Innovation and Tallahassee Chiles.

Coach Dave Wilson says his team can hang with any of those waiting at state and should be in the mix for a fourth state title.

“We’ll have to do something at doubles. We need to win one of the double matches,” he said. “Last year, in the first match, we lost the both doubles (in third-set tiebreaker). So, we need to get at least one of the points in doubles. We can’t go into matches having to win four of the five singles.”

Track and field

Wesley Chapel’s Brady Pineo continued his assault on the school’s record books, setting a new record in the 100 and winning the 200 as well to lead the Wildcats boys to the team championship at the Class 3A, District 8 meet at Cypress Creek on April 24.

The Wildcats scored 224 points, while Cypress Creek finished second with 137 in the 10-team field.

Pineo won the 100 meters in a blazing 10.33 seconds, and teammate Michael Johnson was third with a 10.68. Pineo ran the 200 in 20.92 — the second-fastest Wildcat time ever, behind his 20.70 earlier this season — for another gold.

Pineo also got a relay gold, but the most impressive performance of the night may have come from teammate Kiyh Anderson, who not only won three events but broke his own school record in each of them — the 110 hurdles, where he won in 18.84, breaking his previous school record by .02 seconds; the long jump, where his 23-foot, 5.5-inch performance broke his previous mark by almost a foot; and the triple jump, where he leaped 48-0.75.

Anderson also took second in the high jump.

Wesley Chapel also got victories in the 4x100 relay (Caleb Walsh, Thomas Zavo, Johnson and Pineo) and 4x800 relay (Jordan Greer, Jesiah Williams, Solomon Richardson, Sebastian Oliver), with Josh Henry winning the discus.

Cypress Creek boys winners included Aaron Barnes in the 800 and 1,600 meters and Skylar Manatt in the 3,200.

In the girls’ competition, the Cypress Creek girls were paced by Angie Ermeav in the 400, Saige Magill in the long jump and a host of second-place finishes as it won the team title with 201.5 points.

Wesley Chapel was third as sophomore Jamee Joseph won the 100 and 200, Charlize Garcia took the 100-hurdle gold, Nandi Denning did the same in the 400, and the 4x100 team finished first.

The top four finishers in each event move on to next week’s regional meets.

At the Class 4A, District 9 meet at Newsome High, the Wiregrass Ranch girls were paced by victories from Natalia Gaona-Zelaya in the 1600 and 3200 races, with Bogdan Anghel sweeping the same races for the boys. Clemson Harrod won gold in the 110 hurdles, while Jonah Gonzalez won the triple and long jump and took second in the 100 and 200, moving on to regionals in all those events.

Softball district outlooksIn Class 5A, District 8, No. 2 seed Wesley Chapel (18-7) is starting to look like the best team softball team in school history. It knocked off No. 1 seed Springstead last week in a surprising 7-0 victory, and is currently ranked No. 6 in the region, where the top eight make the postseason. The Wildcats have won eight of their last nine, with the only loss coming to River Ridge, who they happen to meet in the first round of districts. River Ridge is No. 8 in the region, so whoever wins the district opener will lock up a spot in the state brackets. A Wesley Chapel win could also provide a big boost to Cypress Creek (13-11) which is No. 9 in the region. A Coyotes win over Springstead and a Wesley Chapel win over River Ridge might be enough to keep both local teams’ seasons alive.

Class 6A, District 9 is the toughest district in the region, with four of the teams ranked in the top nine, with the top eight qualifying for the state playoffs. Wiregrass Ranch went 3-0 last week and outscored its opponents 41-1 to tune up for its first-round meeting with Wharton. Despite its 17-7 record, the Bulls are seeded last, and if they beat Wharton, they will take on No. 1 Land O’ Lakes, which is 22-3. The Bulls lost a 3-2 decision to the Gators in the regular season and haven’t lost to a team without at least 15 wins all season, so they are battle-tested. If they can beat Wharton and Land O’Lakes, it may not be enough to get them into the top eight, so a district title may be the Bulls only path to the playoffs.

Softball stars from last week

Facing one of the top pitchers in the region in Alivia Miller, Wesley Chapel made a statement with a 7-0 victory, picking up 12 hits. It was the most hits and earned runs (six) Miller had allowed in a single game all season, and avenged an earlier loss this season heading into the crucial district playoffs where a rubber match may be lurking.

Wesley Chapel senior catcher Kali Manco hit a homerun in the win over Springstead, her second in three games, over which time she is 5-for-10 with eight RBIs.

Manco, Wiregrass Ranch junior shortstop/pitcher Kayla Valentin, and Cypress Creek sophomore shortstop Lili Briscoe all finished the regular season strong, and lead the area in RBIs with 30, 28 and 27 respectively.

Cypress Creek junior first baseman Lindey Bowling went 4-for-6 in three games last week, with three walks for a .777 on base percentage and a double and five RBIs.