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Could the seventh time be the charm?
St.Petersburg College has qualified for the Florida Junior College state baseball tournament for the seventh straight year, and coach Dave Pano is hoping this squad can bring home the school's first championship.
"I'm more satisfied with this team qualifying than any of the teams I've taken there," Pano said.
"We've had a difficult road to get here, a lot to overcome. But now that we're here, we're going to battle as hard as we can and see what happens," he said. "I think we're capable, but you never know."
The Titans (31-14, 15-8) finished second in the Suncoast Conference behind Manatee CC. That broke a streak of three consecutive seasons as the champion.
SPC will open the tournament Friday at 4 p.m. against Tallahassee CC at Kissimmee's Osceola County Stadium. TCC (43-10) won
its first Panhandle Conference title in four years.St.Petersburg will start former Northside Christian pitcher Todd Redmond, who has had a good season. He is 8-3 with a 1.72 earned run average in 781/3 innings.
Shawn Williams, a Clearwater Central Catholic standout, has played well in the field and on the mound. He hit .313 in the regular season and converted 10 of 10 save chances.
"Our pitching has been solid all season," Pano said. "That hasn't been a problem."
Injuries, however, have been.
Catcher Ben Poole, outfielder Steve Paddock and pitcher Nate Craft have battled injuries throughout the season. Pano expects to have them back for the tournament.
Unlike last year, when Pano had an experienced club, this squad is younger. While his goal always is to win the tourney, this season he has a different attitude.
"Last year I went in knowing we were going to win the whole thing, and it didn't happen," Pano said. "This year is kind of like the first couple of years we went. We'll go in and see what happens."
The tournament continues through May 11.
SPC SOFTBALL: The Titans qualified for the Florida Junior College Tournament as the second-place team in the Suncoast Conference.
They will open play Thursday at 2 p.m. against Okaloosa-Walton CC. The games are at Osceola County Softball Complex in Kissimmee.
SPC is led by two strong pitchers. Sophomore Jean Smith is 21-5 and was a first-team all-conference selection. Sophomore Dana Vantrease (16-7) was a first-team pick.
If the hitting and defense of Star Jones, May Alves, Verneice Graham, Dana Hafner and Laura Atun come through, the Titans could make an impact.
The Titans (44-18) have not played in two weeks.
"It's been an exciting year," SPC coach Lance Lamport said. "We've won some big tournaments. There's some tough teams out there, but I think we can play well against them."
ECKERD BASEBALL: Entering three Sunshine State Conference games against Barry, the Tritons were 19-28 and 5-11 in the league.
A shot at the postseason is out of the question. The only thing left for Eckerd is to finish strongly. Some players are having decent seasons.
Outfielder Joe Sevino is the only member hitting over .300 (.305), which includes seven home runs and a team-high 12 doubles. Starting pitcher Jason Wishin is 2-2 with a 2.76 earned run average. He has worked 651/3 innings and has 46 strikeouts and 17 walks.
The regular season ends Friday at Saint Leo.
TENNIS TEAM ADVANCES: Eckerd's women will play in the first round of the NCAA Division II Championships against Florida Southern on Friday. The winner qualifies for the national tournament, May 12-15 in Altamonte Springs.
MEMORIAL FUND ESTABLISHED: Eckerd has started a fund to help the family of basketball player Peter Akintola, who died April 9 while playing a pick-up game.
Those wishing to contribute can call or visit any Wachovia branch and ask for account #1010088375377. Eckerd students also are collecting for the Akintola Fund.