Our annual picks for the best players in our coverage area, spanning Hernando, Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties: Player of the Year: Moriah Connolly, Sr., Palm Harbor University For two years, Palm Harbor University third baseman Moriah Connolly was a multi-sport athlete. She ran track, was a small forward in ...
Read more
Thu. June 13, 2013 at 11:43 a.m. | Times Staff
Player of the Year: C Mia Fung, Jr., Strawberry Crest Why we picked her: Providing staunch defense and staggering offensive numbers, Fung led the Chargers to a 24-3 record and the four-year-old program’s first playoff triumph. Wielding a 33-inch Easton Synergy bat, the Chargers catcher hit for average and altitude: ...
Read more
Sat. June 01, 2013 at 4:16 p.m. | Joey Knight
Girls Athlete of the Year: Jorian Ordway, Sr., Hillsborough Why we picked her: The daughter of two former Armwood athletes, Ordway cemented her status as the greatest 400-meter runner in local history, establishing a Hillsborough County record (54.98 seconds) at the Class 3A region championship. She topped that performance (54.19) ...
Read more
Thu. May 30, 2013 at 5:40 p.m. | Joey Knight
At Freedom Scores: Tampa Bay Tech 26, Wharton 0 King 12, Freedom 6 Spring game-breakers: Tampa Bay Tech’s all-Deon backfield is going to be a handful — a couple handfuls, actually — in the fall. Thompson, the rising senior running back, started off the game with a 66-yard touchdown run ...
Read more
Thu. May 23, 2013 at 11:39 p.m. | Joel Anderson
HomeTeam Hot Shots A spotlight on the Times’ bay area players of the week. Female Hot Shot: Caroline Whiteside, Sr., Freedom Sport: Softball Skinny: Whiteside, whose real first name is Sunday, typically batted second this season to move leadoff hitter Maddy Hall over. But with two out and the ...
Read more
Mon. May 13, 2013 at 5:19 p.m. | Times Staff
TAMPA — While big names like East Lake’s Mason Cole, Lakewood’s Isaiah Wynn and St. Petersburg Catholic’s Reilly Gibbons head up a class of offensive linemen that might be Tampa Bay’s best ever, the river of talent across the line of scrimmage this year is a deep one, running from ...
Read more
Sat. May 11, 2013 at 3:11 p.m. | John C. Cotey
VERO BEACH — They’re staging the state prep softball finals on the grounds once known as Dodgertown, where no less an immortal than Sandy Koufax once worked his arm into shape each March. At times Thursday night, it seemed he still was working. A mesmerizing southpaw ended the greatest season ...
Read more
Thu. May 09, 2013 at 10:17 p.m. | Joey Knight
VERO BEACH — Ashley Wilson’s walkoff homer Wednesday allowed Freedom to keep moving on. Wilson led off the bottom of the eighth inning by belting a 3-2 pitch from Tallahassee Chiles ace Samantha Martin over the centerfield fence at the Vero Beach Sports Village complex, walking off with the winning ...
Read more
Wed. May 08, 2013 at 11:03 p.m. | Bill Whitehead
Their historic trek has occurred mostly under the radar. For 2 1/2 months, the Freedom Patriots quietly compiled an 18-3 regular-season mark before a resounding run — equal parts clutch and cacophonous — through the region playoffs. To be sure, we’ve learned much about the mettle of this team in the ...
Read more
Tue. May 07, 2013 at 6:35 p.m. | Joey Knight
Freedom offensive lineman Dillon Browne has received his first college scholarship offer, from Western Kentucky, according to Patriots coach Todd Donahoe. Browne has been a two-year starter for the Patriots, earning second-team all-Western Conference honors last year as a junior. The 6-foot-4, 238-pound Browne will be one of the anchors ...
Read more
Mon. May 06, 2013 at 11:54 p.m. | Joel Anderson
TAMPA — After a one-year hiatus from football, Carrollwood Day rising senior left tackle/defensive end Adonis Welch is back with the Patriots, who project him to be as dominant in the trenches as he is in the paint. A 6-foot-8, 260-pound power forward with at least one Division I basketball ...
Read more
Mon. May 06, 2013 at 8:13 p.m. | Times Staff
Photo gallery JACKSONVILLE — Bloomingdale junior Andrew LeBlanc felt the southerly gusts, saw the rain being blown horizontally, peered at the gray northeast Florida sky, and knew it was the Bulls’ day. “I felt pretty good,” the junior 4x800-meter relay anchor said, “because I knew it would be a tactical ...
Read more
Sat. May 04, 2013 at 10:34 p.m. | Joey Knight
SARASOTA — Freedom’s Caroline Whiteside was just thinking to make contact when she stepped up to the plate in the seventh inning with the score tied 1-all. Normally a singles hitter who bunts at the top of the lineup, Whiteside had two strikes with two outs and the bases loaded. ...
Read more
Sat. May 04, 2013 at 5:57 p.m. | Bob Putnam
Two more players from Freedom’s Class 7A regional champion team will continue playing basketball in college, according to coach Laurie Pacholke. Whitney Ivey, a guard, will play at Johnson & Wales University in North Miami, while backup forward Ashle Thompson has signed with Florida Tech. A senior transfer from Plant, ...
Read more
Fri. May 03, 2013 at 10:36 a.m. | Joel Anderson
The first postseason in Freedom softball history has been extended. First by the weather, and now by some timely offense. Caroline Whiteside’s bases-loaded walk in the second stood up as the winning RBI for the Patriots, who struck early and held on for a 4-2 win against reigning state champ ...
Read more
Thu. May 02, 2013 at 7:11 p.m. | Joey Knight