By Rocco Garcia
The Ponte Vedra Baseball team began their playoff run by hosting the Terry Parker Braves on Apr. 29. The Sharks started off early by adding three runs in the top of the third. Senior outfielder, Cade Eidam, hit a sacrifice flyball to bring in senior outfielder, Parker Gunnell. Then, junior second basemen, Grady Hartman, singled and scored two runs. The Sharks then in the bottom of the second added two more with junior third basemen, Cole Rambler, scored freshmen catcher, Caleb Stanton. Following that, junior shortstop, Jack Brady, scored on a catcher’s error to bring the score to 5-0. The Sharks continued their domination by adding six runs in the bottom of the fourth. The Sharks junior starting pitcher for the night, Roshan Patel, pitched a shutout until the fifth inning when junior relief pitcher, Aspen McAdoo, closed the game out with four strikeouts and no earned runs. The final score was 11-0 in dominate fashion, the Sharks travel the next day to a neutral location, at Beachside High School, to play the 15-9 Englewood Rams.
The Sharks started out early with one run scored in the top of the second with junior outfielder, Austin O’Hara, hitting a sacrifice flyball to score senior first basemen, Matt Hoag. The game was relatively quiet until the Sharks added one more in the top of the fifth with Hoag hitting a sacrifice flyball scoring Brady. The Sharks then scored three more in the top of the sixth courtesy of Hartman, Stanton, and a home run by Brady. To conclude their dominance, the Sharks closed the game added two runs in the top of the seventh making the score 7-0. The sophomore starting pitcher for the night, Storm Lickliter, pitched a shutout and won athlete of the week at PVHS.
“Winning districts was always a goal for us, and missing that opportunity sort of struck our moral going into the regional quarter final.”
Austin O’hara (11)
The Sharks traveled back to Beachside High School on May. 2 to play the Beachside Barracudas for the district championship. The Barracudas played amazing defense and held the Sharks to nothing until the top of the seventh. The Barracudas scored one in the bottom of the third, three in the fourth, and two in the fifth and sixth. In effort to turn the game around, the Sharks added four runs in the top of seventh with Eidam, O’Hara, Hartman, and Brady brining it home.
The Sharks traveled to Clay County High School to play the 16-9 Blue Devils on May. 7. The Sharks started off early with a run scored in the top of the first with O’Hara walking and Rambler scored. The Blue Devils struck back and scored six in the bottom of the second and five in the third. “Winning districts was always a goal for us, and missing that opportunity sort of struck our moral going into the regional quarter final,” said O’Hara. The Sharks tried to climb back by adding three in the fourth, one in the fifth, sixth, and seventh. The loss in the regional quarter finals ultimately concluded the Sharks season, with a final record of 12-16.
Pictured: Ashtan Augusta (11) cheering on his teammates during the Beachside High School district championship playoff matchup
