All-Area Athletes & Teams
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1503113
www.yoursun.com Page 7 APRIL 21, 2023 A PIRATE SPEARS MANTAS There were many highlights during Landon Carter's 2023 baseball season, culminating in his coronation as the Sun Preps Baseball Player of the Year. No moment likely topped his epic battle with Lemon Bay on this spring evening at Pirates' Cove. For six innings, Carter engaged in a pitcher's duel with Lemon Bay's Brady Ham – a Player of the Year Finalist – resulting in a 1-1 tie as Ham left the bump. Carter stayed on the mound for the Port Charlotte, leaning on his defense to complement his blazing lefthanded fastball to get him through the seventh, eighth and ninth innings of this marathon game. Finally, Port Charlotte pushed across the walk-off winner with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and the Pirates had an epic 2-1 win over a county rival. Carter allowed just three hits and two walks while striking out 10 in winning the area's best baseball game of the season. MAY 4, 2023 ANOTHER TARPON TITLE Another? Yes, that's accurate to describe the numerous district titles won at Charlotte High during the 2022-23 school year. It certainly doesn't capture the rarity of a Charlotte softball crown. For the first time in the 21st Century, the Tarpons program hoisted the district trophy after blanking Riverdale, 6-0. It filled a curious void in a successful program, for Charlotte is no stranger to regional playoff competition. For whatever rea- son, despite a strong string of successes, the Tarpons always found a way to fall short in the district tournament. The win against Riverdale was a catharsis for one of the school's top programs and was the cherry atop what had been a wildly successful 2023 cam- paign that saw Charlotte sweep Venice and take its place as the area's top-ranked program. They would be upset a week later in the regionals by a Land O'Lakes team that made a deep Cinderella run in the playoffs. MAY 20, 2023 ZOEY'S BIG DAY Zoey Mills entered the 2023 softball season as an unknown. Lemon Bay coach Kim Pinkham was asking the senior to take the mantel as the team's ace, but she had yet to go seven innings on any sort of consis- tent basis. She figured it out. By season's end, Mills had become a freight train in the circle, keeping opponents at bay while the Mantas' offense con- sistently found ways to put runs on the board. Still, it seemed that it was all for naught when the Mantas couldn't find a way past Hardee in the district championship game. The team received a No. 7 (out of eight) seed in the Region 4A-3 playoffs with a rematch against that Hardee squad. This time, Mills would not be denied as Lemon Bay outlasted the Wildcats, 4-3. Next came a 1-0 win against Cypress Lake in which Mills scattered four hits and worked around four walks while striking out 15. That sent Lemon Bay to the region championship at Robinson on a Saturday afternoon. For a whopping 10 innings, Mill engaged in an epic duel against Robinson's Kohana Pousson. Mills permitted just three hits while Pousson tossed nine no-hit frames. In the top of the 10th, MacKenzie Vaughan finally collected Lemon Bay's first hit, a leadoff single. With two outs and Vaughan on second base, Mills came to the plate cracked a 1-1 offering from Pousson to the gap in right-center field, bringing Vaughan home with the game's first run. Mills went back to the circle and mowed Robinson down 1-2-3 to send Lemon Bay to the Class 4A Final Four for the first time in school history. TITLES FROM PAGE 6A SUN FILE PHOTO BY TOM O'NEILL The Charlotte Tarpons celebrate their victory over Oakleaf at RP Funding Center in Lakeland. SUN FILE PHOTO BY CHRIS BLAKE Port Charlotte's Landon Carter went nine innings in an epic performance against Lemon Bay on April 21. SUN FILE PHOTO BY TOM O'NEILL Lemon Bay catcher Madison Kinkade (9) rushes the mound to celebrate with pitcher Zoey Mills (8) after Lemon Bay defeated Robinson 1-0 on May 20.