The state semifinals might be the last place you would expect to find a team that just a week earlier was giving an eight-run cushion to a pitcher selected as one of the nation’s 36 high school baseball prospects to play in the 2013 Under Armour Game in Chicago’s Wrigley Field this August.

The Patriots had no answer for the Cougars’ highly touted prospect Tyler Danish on the mound or at the plate in Friday’s semifinal.

Haines City’s suicide squeeze in the seventh inning gave the Hornets the winning run against St. Thomas Aquinas.

The Monsignor Pace baseball team has 17 seniors who still have a sour taste in their mouths from a 1-0 state semifinal loss to Bishop Verot that ended their junior seasons last year.

Westwood Christian took home the Class 2A trophy thanks to a potent offense and Jason Gutierrez’s complete-game, one-hit effort.

The state semifinals might be the last place you would expect to find a team that just a week earlier was giving an eight-run cushion to a pitcher selected as one of the nation’s 36 high school baseball prospects to play in the 2013 Under Armour Game in Chicago’s Wrigley Field this August.

The Patriots had no answer for the Cougars’ highly touted prospect Tyler Danish on the mound or at the plate in Friday’s semifinal.

The Monsignor Pace baseball team has 17 seniors who still have a sour taste in their mouths from a 1-0 state semifinal loss to Bishop Verot that ended their junior seasons last year.

Westwood Christian took home the Class 2A trophy thanks to a potent offense and Jason Gutierrez’s complete-game, one-hit effort.

Kendrick Gutierrez knows how to make an entrance.

Danny Garcia made up for Westwood Christian’s sluggish offense by pitching a 12-strikeout shutout in the 2A state semifinal.

“He has always gotten me out,” said Peñas, a third baseman who has a scholarship to rising baseball power Campbell University (N.C.). “But this time, he left a fastball over the middle of the plate.

Coral Reef won its first state title in a girls’ sport by holding off Cypress Bay in the seventh inning.

What Southwest Miami wouldn’t give to have the first 15 minutes or so back of its state boys’ volleyball semifinal.

Gulliver Prep won its sixth title overall behind Gabbee Draney’s stellar pitching and a team effort at the plate.

Coral Reef managed a 1-0 victory over Timber Creek in the Class 8A state semifinal, placing it one win away from a state title.

Haines City’s suicide squeeze in the seventh inning gave the Hornets the winning run against St. Thomas Aquinas.

Though it lists only two seniors on its roster, Archbishop McCarthy is trying to make state history with four titles in a row.

Blanche Ely star guard Dallas Cameron has signed a letter of intent to attend Stephen F. Austin University following a decommitment to American University.

When Troy Cameron accepted the baseball coaching job at his alma mater, he didn’t expect to be so busy at this time of year.

Pembroke Pines Charter couldn’t solve Lake City Columbia’s pitching — even after a one-day break for better weather.

Pines Charter is faced with a 3-0 deficit in the fourth inning of the Class 6A state championship, which will resume Sunday.

Sarah Maloney pitched a two-hitter to lead Cypress Bay into the Class 8A championship game.

Despite missing star second baseman Victoria Gonzalez, Pines Charter advanced to the state final behind the pitching of left-hander Claire Blount.

Meghan King threw a one-hitter, and Rachel Collins drove in the game’s only run to spark St. Thomas Aquinas.

Samantha Sharkey’s RBI double in the ninth inning scored Jillian Healy and lifted the resilient Raiders into the Class 7A state final.

When Ken Mastrole speaks to the students at his many passing clinics, he explains that hard work will lead to open doors. That philosophy recently came true for the one-time Cardinal Gibbons standout quarterback.

It didn’t take long for word about Ermon Lane to spread across the St. Thomas University campus Saturday during the Airo/IMG 7-on-7 football tournament.

This was the class that everyone waited on. Loaded with as much talent as there has ever been in South Florida.

There is an absurdity to National Signing Day in the way it is presented and covered. For many, this annual segue from high school to college football is an exciting and glorious thing. For me and perhaps others, it is closer to National Sighing Day — an exercise of excess that makes us shake our head and wonder how it got to this point.

South Plantation’s Alex Collins got his father’s signature on his letter of intent to Arkansas. But his mother, who prefers UM, has hired a lawyer.