MIDDLEBURG - A first inning tearful bomb of a home run from Bayleigh Girgis against West Nassau in a 10-3 win between two area powerhouses may have symbolized what may happen in a week as area teams will travel to Kissimmee for the annual Kissimmee Klassic Softball Tournament set for April 2-4.

Middleburg's win over West Nassau, who came to Middleburg with an 8-5 record and a seventh ranking in Class 3A, has been a long-time North Florida top-tier program and will also be in Kissimmee this week.

"A huge win for us over West Nassau, Girgis' emotional home run lifted the team and set the tone for a great overall team effort," said Middleburg coach Ashley Houston. "Now, the focus shifts to a home matchup against Williston, a team we fell to in extra innings earlier this season and another big test with Creekside."

From Clay County, Keystone Heights and Oakleaf will also be competing as teams get one final chance to see what teams look like around the state that may show up on playoff brackets in May.

"We face powerhouse Bartow in the first round (at Kissimmee Klassic); a team that is super talented, have been tested all season and faced a gauntlet of tough opponents," Houston said. "Confidence is building, chemistry is coming together and we are working hard to hit out stride at just the right moment to make a deep run this season. Hoping that we gain some momentum and get hot at the right time."

Middleburg, 8-5, ranked ninth in Class 5A, smashed for innings of five and three runs against the normally formidable West Nassau defense; most notably Girgis' three run blast in the first inning.

Middleburg scored the first run of singles by Mallory Ficklin and Izzy Pifer to set up Girgis' strike. Both runners moved one base on a grounder from Emma Ward prior to Girgis' at bat.

The Broncos continued their barrage with Cloey Ballinger doubling and Jocelyn Kenirey doubling two outs later to put Middleburg up 5-0 very quickly and decisively. In the second inning, the same bats struck again with a Ficklin grounder getting bobbled and Pifer moving Ballinger before Ward singled to set up a Girgis RBI grounder that got Pifer across home plate.

Ballinger pushed run seven across with a double from Reynoso putting the eighth run on the scoreboard. Middleburg, who recently lost a 3-1 match to Paxon (8-3, sixth in 3A, region finalist 3A 2025) had Williston and Creekside (13-3, 13th in 7A) this week with 6A power Bartow (12-1, 11th in Florida, fourth in 6A, region finalist 6A) the first step at Kissimmee. Paxon lost an 11-0 game to Atlantic Coast on Friday, March 27.

In their Blue Bracket lineup, a win over Bartow gets Middleburg a game against the winner of Parrish Community (8-2, 10th in Florida, third in 6A, Final Four 6A 2025) and Coral Reef (8-2, ninth in 7A) so the hits keep coming or better keep coming.
In the bottom half of the Blue Bracket, Oakleaf, 1-7, off a murderous schedule; Keystone Heights, Ponte Vedra, Middleburg, still undefeated (14-0) Baker County and a Tuesday game with Bartram Trail (9-5, four straight wins), opened with defending 6A champion Doral Academy (9-1, 23rd in U.S., fourth in Florida and second in 6A) on April 2 in Kissimmee.
With a win, Oakleaf will rejoice for sure, then have the inevitable task of taking on the winner of IMG Academy (8-8, No. 1 Independent, 35th Florida) and last year's 7A runner-up Hagerty (12-1, seventh in FL, second in 7A).

"Kissimmee is always a great test for us," said Oakleaf coach Heather Han, now at 1-7 overall. "At Oakleaf, our softball program has been built on the idea of playing the best competition. While we've had some early struggles, our team has done a solid job of learning from those moments and continuing to move in the right direction." 

Keystone Heights, ironically, will face West Nassau in their April 2 Kissimmee Klassic opener with the winner of Palatka and Lake Wales next on a win.

"West Nassau is always a great opponent," said Keystone Heights coach essica Marquart. "Our offense has been struggling so we'll have to up that part of the game."

Marquart continues her usual arduous schedule and is at 6-7 overall with a recent 10-3 win over Oakleaf bookending a 6-5 come-from-behind win over Ridgeview, but three losses in a row: Baldwin 4-3, Clay 12-2 and Baker County 10-0 in the last two weeks.

"I like to play a tough schedule because that is what you're going to see in the postseason and that's what we are preparing for," said Marquart. 

Keystone Heights rides the arm of senior pitcher Kadence Massey (72Ks, 3.62 ERA) who also wields a strong bat with a team leading 12 RBIs. Senior catcher Amberlea Wagner is the run scorer with 15 off a team leading .385 batting average with four doubles. Sophomore Cadie Bowles has a strong nine stolen bases in 13 games.

Ridgeview was on a roll with a five-game win streak halted by losses to Bartram Trail and a seventh inning 6-5 loss to Keystone Heights. Last week, the excitable Panthers knocked off Fleming Island, 4-3, but then got stomped by Ponte Vedra 16-0. Who knows?

Panther coach Angela Agurkis has five batters near the .300 batting average mark but must get some consistency in field errors —63 total, six against Ponte Vedra —which has been the Achilles heel for the team.

"Ponte Vedra was a great hitting team with a tough defense," Agurkis said. "Immaturity got the best of us as it does when you have a young team like this. Sometimes a loss like this can only make you better because it exposes the real depth of who they are as people. We build off it."

Fleming Island needs to reverse two losses —4-1 and 4-3 last week to Bartram Trail and Ridgeview —with their strong batting lineup maybe in a down cycle.

Fleming Island got singles against Bartram Trail, but Bartram Trail got triples.
Orange Park has rolled to two-straight wins last week with big numbers: 12-2 vs. Andrew Jackson, 11-4 vs. Menendez. Makayla Ballard and Regan Barnett had the hot bats against Jackson with 3RBIs each. Chanel Stowers had three ribs against Menendez

The Raiders get tested quickly with Harvest Community (11-3) visiting Monday and Tocoi Creek (11-2) on Thursday.