While most of the Tampa Bay area won’t get their 2024 high school softball regular season started, a scheduling conflict allowed for there to be one game in the region to act as the prologue for Opening Night.
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Clearwater traveled to Canterbury and put together a stellar offensive performance amid multiple players out to earn the first victory of the campaign, 14-6.
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Game Balls
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Juleah Patterson, Jr. SS/C, Clearwater: Served as the ultimate table setter, reaching in every plate appearance and scoring in every plate appearance. Five hits, five runs scored and a stolen base is quite the way to start the season.
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Jadah Nicholls, Jr. C, Clearwater: In her first game against her former team, Nicholls got right back to work at the plate. She went 4-for-4 with two doubles and five RBI in the middle of the Tornadoes’ lineup.
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Tayten Moore, Sr. C, Canterbury: The first home run of the 2024 regular season belongs to the Army signee, who connected on a solo shot in the sixth. Moore went 3-for-4 with two total extra-base hits, two RBI and three runs scored. She also swiped a couple of bags.
Dinger Tracker:
Tayten Moore, Canterbury (1)
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Tuesday’s Games to Watch
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Wiregrass Ranch at Wesley Chapel: It’s a double debut in the War on 54 – long-time assistant coach Tyler Finn leads the Bulls into hostile territory against first-time head coach Ashley Nickisher (a 2019 Cypress Creek alumna).
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Steinbrenner at Sumner: ‘District’ play gets underway early for these teams, as this is a potential Class 7A-District 7 Tournament preview. The Warriors won the only meeting last season, 13-2.
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Hernando at Nature Coast Tech: Another rivalry is renewed tonight as the pair of Brooksville schools go at each other to start the season. Hernando swept the season series by a combined 28-1 and brings a four-game winning streak against the Sharks in.
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State Champions Begin Title Defenses Tonight:
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Liberty (Kissimmee) at Bartow: Named Florida’s best team this preseason by MaxPreps, the Lady Jackets begin their hunt for back-to-back titles, which would be the second time in program history they’ve done it – their streak of five straight from 2002-06 reigns as one of the most impressive runs in state history.
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Winter Haven at Lake Wales: Another challenging schedule set by the Highlanders begins with another county foe that would love to score an upset. We’ll find out quickly how Lake Wales can replace their talented senior class from a year ago. The Highlanders search for the program’s first back-to-back state titles.
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Calvary Christian at Northeast: The three-peat is officially on, as the Warriors get an opportunity to face a scrappy Pinellas County foe on Opening Night. In their final preseason tuneup, Morgen Talley, Irianis Garcia, Alexis Camilleri and Reagan Lavina combined for eight of Calvary’s 12 hits in a run-rule win over Wesley Chapel.
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