In three days, Plant City’s favorite (non-football) pastime will be in season.
Each of the three area teams will face new challenges in 2016, whether it’s replacing personnel, dealing with new assignments or both. In fact, area fans could potentially see two district winners come from the Winter Strawberry Capital of the World.
Because the districts have realigned for 2016, all three schools have been bumped up to FHSAA Class 8A status. And the reason there could be two district winners is because Strawberry Crest has been moved to another region.
The Chargers are now considered an 8A-District 4 team, seated at the end of Region 1. Durant and Plant City have stuck together in 8A-District 6, holding down Region 2. East Bay has also rejoined the Cougars and Raiders in that district, but the rest of the faces are new.
If anything, the move could actually work in Crest’s favor: of the 2016 8A-4 teams, only the Chargers finished 2015 with a winning record (16-11; 6-4 district). Durant and Plant City will once again have to deal with a quality team from outside the area, now Riverview instead of Brandon.
DURANT
It almost seems futile to pick at any potential Durant weaknesses before the season begins: few teams in the state have the Cougars’ habit of getting the most out of a roster, year in and year out.
But the Cougars have lost a big, important senior class to graduation. The team will undoubtedly miss having players such as Cade Kelley, Brandon Wheat and Justin Nardello at the plate and arms like Bryce Gainer’s on the mound. All of these athletes came up big in the postseason.
On the bright side, Cougar fans have to be pleased with those coming back.
Chief among them is the versatile Jonah Scolaro, whose prowess at the plate and on the mound earned him the No. 4 spot on the Plant City Times & Observer’s top five athletes of 2015.
There’s also Zach Barfield, who helped lock up the district title with a clutch triple, multi-sport athlete Steven Witchoskey and .289 hitter Harrison Theocharakis.
Although Riverview is coming off of a great 2015, it’s likely that Durant will get to defend its district crown in the championship game.
PLANT CITY
Head coach Mike Fryrear is more excited for this team than any before it, and it’s not hard to see why. Although the Raiders didn’t play as well in 2015 as they had hoped to, posting a 13-11 (4-6 district) record, several players developed into studs.
There’s University of Florida commit Billy McKay, who posted a 1.14 ERA and 69 strikeouts in 61.1 innings of work as a starter and a reliever. He also hit .333 at the plate. Jarrett Joyner, who posted a 2.30 ERA, will also be back on the mound and is expected to make a big impact.
Three of the team’s top hitters — Connor Slagill, Miguel Martinez and Sawyer Dawson — have graduated. Taking their place will be Dalton Wingo, who batted .260 last season and has since drawn the interest of programs like South Carolina, and two-sport star Peyton Collins, returning from a football injury for his senior season and hoping to improve upon last year’s .308 average.
The program has also added Strawberry Crest transfers Matt Moclair and Austin Eldridge. Moclair will replace defensive stud Trey Matthews as starting catcher, and Eldridge will be asked to both play nearly every position on the field and bring a solid bat into the lineup.
Could this be the year that Plant City turns the corner and scores an upset in the district tournament?
STRAWBERRY CREST
The 8A-4 district is one of the smaller ones in the class, consisting of Crest, Wiregrass Ranch, Freedom and Wharton.
Crest’s 16-11 (6-4 district) season in 2015 would have been enough to give the Chargers the top seed in this district, and the team is hoping for that kind of outcome in 2016. They’ll have to do it without Mark Moclair, who graduated after turning in a great season as the team’s ace and a .312 hitter.
The team has some solid pitching options in Matt Trzeciak and Damien Torres to make up for part of Moclair’s absence. Torres, a sophomore, had the lowest ERA on the team at 0.79, over 26.2 innings, and won four games while striking out 25 batters. Trzeciak, a senior, posted a 1.93 ERA over 32.2 innings — second-most on the team. Both players also batted .333.
Leading hitter Alex Kachler will be back, coming off of a season where he led the Chargers with a .357 average and 25 hits. Logan Fernandez, who batted .302 and led the team with 13 runs scored, will be back.
Crest’s new rivals posted a combined record of 6-21 in district play last year. Should those woes continue, the Chargers have a good chance to prosper in their new home.
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.