District tourneys filled with parity and intrigue
District baseball tournaments began Monday night and run through Thursday. Here are four of the more interesting ones:
District 9-9A
Cont e nders: Jupiter, Palm Beach Central, Palm Beach Gardens.
Central beat Jupiter twice (2-1 both times) and lost to Gardens twice (5-2, 2-1) this season. Jupiter beat Gardens twice (5-4 each time) but lost to Central. They all finished with 4-2 district records. Central claimed the top seed and gets to face struggling John I. Leonard in the first round. The Broncos likely can save their hits for the title game, while the Gators and Warriors will have to duke it out to qualify for the playoffs.
District 10-9A
Contenders: Park Vista, Santaluces.
Another pair of evenly matched teams that should face each other in Wednesday’s final. The Cobras won their first matchup 1-0, then lost the second 4-2. Park Vista is the district favorite because the Cobras get an easy first-round match up with Lake Worth, while the Chiefs get a tougher Boca Raton team. Santaluces beat Boca both times they played.
District 12-8A
Contenders: Forest Hill, Royal Palm Beach, Seminole Ridge, Wellington.
The Wolverines won all their district games this season and are the clear favorite. But there’s no bad team in this district. Royal Palm Beach had the worst regular season, finishing the year 10-13, but the Wildcats have wins over Trinity Christian and Palm Beach Gardens and played other teams close. It’s a similar story for Forest Hill and Seminole Ridge.
District 6-4A
Contenders: American Heritage, Benjamin, King’s Academy, Oxbridge Academy, Saint John Paul II Academy.
The most likely chain of events in this district is American Heritage and Benjamin get through the early rounds and square off for a third time this year. But both teams have had hiccups against district opponents. Heritage lost to Oxbridge and played two close games against Saint John Paul II. Benjamin lost to King’s once and won by one the second time around. The Bucs will get a tough semifinal game from either the Eagles or Lions, and the Stallions will probably have to face the ThunderWolves, who beat them a couple weeks ago.