- June 15, 2025
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The high school sports season is over, unless you count spring football games.
I’ve only been a sports reporter with the East County Observer since the start of the spring season, but I’ve already seen some inspiring stories.
Here are the top stories I enjoyed:
Because I’m new to the area, I didn’t have much of an idea of what to expect out of the local high school teams. When the Braden River baseball team opened the year with a 3-6 record, I almost wrote them off.
Little did I know that the Pirates were more talented than their record indicated. Coach Greg Creek had front-loaded the schedule with challenging teams to prepare a senior-heavy team for the postseason, and it worked.
The Pirates finished the season with a 19-12 record, a district championship and made it to the regional championship round for the first time.
Though they fell one win short of advancing to the 5A final four, the Pirates had a season that will now serve as the standard for future teams to meet.
The high school golf season is in the fall, but it’s worth mentioning some impressive feats that Lakewood Ranch golfers had on the links this spring.
Rising senior Emily Storm won an American Junior Golf Association event on April 13 in her first time competing in the AJGA, shooting seven-over-par 75-76.
After finishing 10th overall in the 3A state championships last fall, Storm is eyeing a state high school title in the fall.
Parker Severs, a recent graduate, is another Lakewood Ranch golfer who should have a bright future.
Severs led Lakewood Ranch to state runner-up finishes the past two years and earned a commitment to the University of Florida.
The best appears to be on the horizon.
Severs won a six-man playoff in a local qualifier for the U.S. Open at Waterlefe Golf & River Club on May 8 to earn one of five qualifying spots. If he can advance past the next (and final) stage of qualifying at Emerald Dunes Golf Club in West Palm Beach on June 2, he will play in the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania.
The Lakewood Ranch softball team was one of the best in the state a few years ago. The Mustangs won state championships in 2021 and 2022 with a 60-4 record over those two seasons.
However, the Mustangs took a step back after the resignation of coach T.J. Goelz and the graduation of several star players.
Lakewood Ranch went 6-21 last year and opened this season 3-7, a previously unthinkable stretch of losses for a once-dominant team.
Those struggles didn’t last.
Led by a couple of senior leaders and some up-and-coming players, the Mustangs finished with a winning record (13-12) and nearly upset Parrish Community, a back-to-back state champion team, in a 2-1 loss in the district tournament.
With eight of the team’s top 10 players poised to return, Lakewood Ranch softball could become a contender again as soon as next season.
The Out-of-Door Academy boys tennis team won the school's first team state championship in 2018, and the Thunder still sport an impressive program in 2025.
The Thunder won district and regional titles this year.
In the regional playoffs, they defeated Cypress Lake Canterbury and Bradenton Saint Stephen’s Episcopal.
They opened the Class 1A state tournament with a quarterfinal win over Winter Park Trinity Prep before falling to Miami True North Classical Academy in the semifinal round.
Though No. 1 singles player Prithvi Sudhakar graduated, the rest of the team —Harrison Shepard (Class of 2027), Cash Murphy (2027), Maximilian Murphy (2028) Michael Kolar (2029), Dhruv Sudhakar (2029) and Abner Yu (2029) — could all return.
Lakewood Ranch sophomore Liam St. John started throwing a javelin to stay busy during the football offseason, but he’s become one of the top throwers in the state.
St. John quickly developed a passion for javelin throwing. He’s spent hours watching YouTube videos of throwers and practicing at the school and in a field in his back yard.
After opening this season with a throw of 50.39 meters, he was 1.07 meters away from Lakewood Ranch’s all-time best.
Beating that record wasn’t as easy as he first thought. St. John plateaued with throws of 48 meters or less for six straight weeks.
After seeking out training from other local throwers and fine-tuning his mechanics, he broke through for second-place finishes at the district and regional meets, including a throw of 53.36 meters at the regional meet that sent him to the 4A state championships.
By every measurement, the Lakewood Ranch girls lacrosse team should have taken a step back this season.
The Mustangs lost more than half of their goal-scoring from last year to graduation and had a young and relatively inexperienced team.
However, the intangibles made all the difference.
Lakewood Ranch embraced a team-first attitude. Sophomore Janelle Gonzalez, who has autism and Turner syndrome, set the bar high by attending every practice and rooting on her teammates with unmatched enthusiasm.
That infectious spirit, along with breakout seasons by junior Gabbie Hotaling (63 goals, 36 assists), sophomore Gigi Canali (62 goals, 10 assists) and Gigi Haines (30 goals, 30 assists) led to the most wins (13-7) in program history and the first regional playoff appearance.
