The objective each sports season for Key West High School teams is to compete for Florida state championships. The baseball Conchs have been the most successful, bringing home 11 state titles. Key West has come close in other sports, but no other team has a state trophy to acclaim its greatness.
This spring, the baseball team, as well as the softball team, seem to be in the middle of the competition.
MaxPreps, the online resource that ranks high school teams, has Key West in the top half-dozen in both sports. According to MaxPreps.com, its system “utilizes the huge number of game results stored in the MaxPreps database. Generally, the more a team wins, the higher the ranking. However, the system takes into account quality wins (against other highly ranked opponents) and strength of schedule.”
Monday night, Key West baseball defeated a strong District 7A Columbus team, 3-0, on Trevor Zuelch’s home run and Andris Barroso’s two-hit complete game shutout. The result was that the Conchs jumped from sixth to third in the state’s 4A rankings, with 17 wins and 6 losses. The Conchs had six hits, including two hits and a run batted in from Kai Smith. Zuelch went 2-for-2, adding a single to his home run. Key West scored one run in the first and two more in the sixth.
Key West wraps up its regular season with Friday-Saturday evening contests at Rex Weech Field against Keys Gate.
The Conchs will next begin District 16 4A competition in a mini tournament beginning Tuesday, May 3. The champion and runner-up advance to the Region 4 competition the following week.
The state championship will be May 18-21 and 23-25 at Hammond Stadium in the Lee County Sports Complex in Fort Myers. Coach Ralph Henriquez Jr. is counting on solid and young pitching to carry the Conchs.
Sophomore lefthander Jacob Burnham has a 6-2 win-loss record with a 3.05 earned run average over 43 2⁄3 innings. Sophomore righthander Barrios was 2-2 and 2.38 over 46 1⁄3 innings before facing Columbus. Righthander Felix Ong, 6-0 and 2.38 over 32 ⅓ innings, was the third starter for Key West. The top relief pitcher was Junior Marlin Takovich, 2-0 and 5.93 over 15 1⁄3 innings. The team as a whole had an earned run average of 2.71.
“The young pitching should be there for the next couple of years,” Henriquez pointed out.
The team has formidable hitting, although the best hitters are older in the food chain. Third baseman Preston Herce, who was the football team’s quarterback, was batting a plush .525 with 28 runs batted in and three home runs before the Columbus game. He’s a senior.
At the other extreme as the team’s second best hitter is freshman Noah Burnham, batting .389 with eight RBI. Zuelch, another senior, was hitting .378 with a pair of home runs and 16 RBI before the Columbus game. Junior Anden Rady was hitting .326 with 9 RBI. Senior shortstop
Smith was the last starter hitting over .300 at .324, but four players (freshmen Jose Perdigon, Jack Haggard and Sam Holland and junior Wyatt Kuhn) were hitting between .250 and .289.
Miami Springs and Suwannee (Live Oak) are ranked 1-2 above Key West. Both are 17-4. There are 89 teams ranked in 4A.
COACH JASON GARCIA has the softball team also ready to pounce, with a 15-3-1 record and a ranking of fifth of 77 in the state by MaxPreps. Ranked above the Lady Conchs in 4-A are Eustis, 19-2; Pompano Beach, 14-5; Tampa Robinson, 17-5, and Deltona, 11-3. Ranked ninth is the usual Key West foe, St. Brendan, 14-8.
Returning All-State senior centerfielder Yahaira Williams has only gotten better from her junior campaign as she is hitting a cool .500 with 3 home runs and 33 runs batted in. Fellow All-Stater senior catcher Isabella Perez isn’t far behind with an average of .448 (3 hits behind Williams).
Both deserve to make it again.
They aren’t the only Lady Conchs performing at a high level. Marina Goins is hitting and pitching. She’s batting .426 with 22 RBI and a pair of home runs. Goins has a 1.62 earned run average for 13 innings with a 2-0 win-loss average. Junior second baseman Caroline Smith (who also covers sports for the Key West Weekly) has 15 hits in 38 at-bats for a .394 average. Senior Madison Gonzalez is batting .340. Sophomore Chloe Gilday is the Lady Conchs’ key hurler with a 7-1 win-loss record and a 2.06 ERA in 16 games and 57 2⁄3 innings pitched. Nevaeh Arnold is 3-2 and 4.62 in 30 1⁄3 innings. Junior Miesha Hernandez is 2-0 and 1.91 in 11 innings.
So, that’s about it. Both the Conchs and the Lady Conchs are in good positions to contend for state titles. Let’s wish them well.
