Odds and ends from an interesting and exciting week of the prep baseball and softball playoff:
- Had Venice tied Thursday's Class 5A-District 10 baseball final, the Indians never would have seen Manatee ace Correlle Prime.
Instead, Prime pitched a scorless seventh inning to preserve the Canes' 6-5 win, giving Manatee its first district title since 2002. The save came two days after Prime threw a complete game against Naples Gulf Coast in a district semifinal.
Starting pitcher Scott Kelly gave way to Garrett Waiters in the fifth, who kept Venice at bay and allowed coach Dwayne Strong to go to his top arm.
"I didn't want (Prime) to go more than one. I was trying to get to the seventh," Strong said. "The only way I was going to throw him was if we had a lead. I wasn't going to send him out there if it was a tie game."
Manatee (19-8) hosts Tampa King at 7 p.m. Tuesday in a Region 3 quarterfinal at G.T. Bray.
- Having a rare first-round bye in the regional tournament may have been a bit of detriment to Bradenton Christian's softball team.
The Panthers, who did not have to play a quarterfinal, fell 8-2 to Winter All Saints Academy in Friday's Class 1A-Region 2 semifinal.
"I think maybe not having a game Tuesday hurt us," said coach Gene Brown.
BCS won the District 8 title April 21 and should have hosted a quarterfinal Tuesday. But because District 7 had just one team - All Saints - the Panthers received an automatic bump into the semifinal.
All Saints had to beat Hernando Christian, the District 8 runner-up, to reach Friday's game.
The long layoff may have sliced into BCS' momentum, especially in the wake of the district win, which came against a Hernando team that entered the day 25-0 while Brown was in the hospital recovering from emergency surgery on an intestine.
"I would have almost rather played Tuesday," said Brown, who was back coaching Friday. "But that's the way the ball bounces."
The Panthers finished the season 13-9.
- Braden River's softball team plays for a regional championship Tuesday at Naples Barron Collier. The Pirates softball, girls soccer, girls tennis and boys tennis teams have also played for regional titles, while Tevin Bryant (weightlifting) is the only athlete to win a state title for the school, which opened in 2005.
- Who and where are the area's baseball teams playing in Tuesday's regional openers? We have it here:
CLASS 5A-REGION 3
Tampa King at Manatee
CLASS 4A-REGION 3
Lakewood Ranch at Tampa Jefferson
CLASS 3A-REGION 3
Cape Coral Island Coast at Southeast
Cardinal Mooney at Fort Myers Bishop Verot
CLASS 2A-REGION 3
Community School of Naples at Out-of-Door Academy
CLASS 1A-REGION 2
Bradenton Christian at Winter Haven All Saints' Academy
