FHSAA playoffs: Softball, tennis, flag football, beach volleyball standouts
The fastpitch softball playoffs begin Monday with five Orlando area teams on the list of top contenders for state championships.
In Class 7A, Lake Brantley (20-3) is No. 1, Hagerty (20-4) No. 2 and East Ridge (22-2) No. 3 in the FHSAA power rankings going into district tournaments. They are in three separate districts.
Winter Springs (17-6) returned 14 of the 16 girls from its 2025 state championship team and sits atop the 5A FHSAA rankings.
Montverde Academy (17-4) is No. 2 in 2A.
Geneva School (10-4) is No. 2 in 1A.
Winter Springs has struggled to score at times this season, but found a way to manufacture runs in a quality 4-2 win against Hagerty to close its regular season on a high point. The Bears scored all four runs in the fourth inning after senior Adison Pierce drew a leadoff walk and senior Bella Reed reached base on a push bunt that turned into a single.
With runners at second and third with two out, Abigail Hooper, a junior committed to FIU, singled to left to knock in the first run of the game. Lauren Daugherty, a junior catcher committed to Kentucky, smacked a line drive to score two more and then scored on a single by senior Katelyn Wassey.
"We were able to execute and make good things happen against a really good team," Winter Springs coach Farrah Gordon said.
A year ago, Tiffany Seemann pitched every inning of every Winter Springs playoff game as a sophomore. But now she is one of two juniors who have shared the load.
Winter Springs softball wins state semifinal just in time for graduation
Christina Brisson has greatly improved after pitching only nine innings last season. She went the distance in the win against Hagerty, allowing just two hits in seven innings. For the season she has a 6-0 record and 0.81 earned run average in 52 innings pitched.
Seemann is 9-5 with a 1.55 ERA across 81⅓ innings.
"It's kind of like that two-headed monster, which is great to have going into the postseason," Gordon said of the duo.
The Bears are undefeated at home and will have home field advantage for all three regional rounds.
First comes the District 5 tournament, hosted by East River. Winter Springs plays a Tuesday 5 p.m. semifinal that sets up a Thursday 6 p.m. final.
Brantley is top seed in District 3 and is set to play a Tuesday semifinal and the Wednesday final at tourney host Apopka (19-6). The Blue Darters lost 9-7 against the Patriots in the regular season.
Hagerty has home field advantage for a Tuesday semifinal and Thursday final in 7A-4.
East Ridge, in District 9, is also home for Tuesday and Thursday games.
Montverde has tough competition in 2A-7, where higher seeds will host games. The First Academy (18-3) is No. 4 and Cornerstone Charter (19-6) is No. 6 in the 2A ratings. TFA hosts the Ducks in a Tuesday semifinal with the winner lined up to play at Montverde on Thursday. All three are certain to get one of the eight regional berths.
Geneva has not played many games, but has taken on a number of bigger schools. The Knights lost to Lake Brantley 5-4, against Hagerty 3-1, and to Cornerstone 8-0. Geneva is positioned to play a Tuesday 1A-6 semifinal and Thursday final at home.
Eustis (16-6), No. 6 in 3A, plays a District 7 semifinal Monday night at home.
Tennis
Lake Nona, Lake Highland Prep and Innovation are the three area schools that qualified both its boys and girls teams to next week's FHSAA state tournaments. They were among 11 local teams that won region final matches on Thursday to advance.
Lake Nona's program, fueled by the nearby USTA National Campus, won boys 4A state titles in 2022 and 2025 and was runner-up in 2019. The Lions' girls were runners-up in 2019, 2023, 2024 and 2025.
Boone's twin standouts, Jordyn and Jayden Gomez, won the No. 1 and 2 singles matches but Winter Park's depth delivered a 4-2 region final win for the Wildcats. The victory marks the 21st time a Winter Park team has reached the state tournament in Teri Bentley's 26-year stint as the Wildcats head coach.
The state tourney brackets each have eight teams, along with individual singles and doubles tourneys. Play is Monday through Wednesday for 4A boys and girls at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, and at Red Bug Lake Park and Sylvan Lake Park for 1A girls and boys.
The 3A matches at Sanlando and 1A matches at Red Bug and Sylvan are Wednesday into Friday.
One name to watch for future state tournaments is Clara Barnhart. The 11-year-old sixth grader went 16-0 playing in the No. 3 singles slot for The Master's Academy, which reached the 1A region semifinal round - losing a tight 4-3 match against state qualifier The First Academy. Barnhart’s doubles record was 14-1.
Another TMA middle schooler, eighth grader, Anelye Camacho, won all 22 of her matches playing No. 4 and 5 singles and No. 2 doubles.
Here are Thursday's results:
Class 4A girls
Winter Park 4, Boone 2
Lake Nona 4, Windermere 0
Newsome 4, Celebration 3
Class 4A boys
Lake Mary 4, Timber Creek 0
Lake Nona 4, Windermere 0
Celebration 4, Newsome 2
Class 3A girls
Innovation 4, Lecanto 2
Class 3A boys
Innovation 4, Gainesville 1
Class 2A girls
Lake Highland Prep 4, Bishop Moore 0
Class 2A boys
Lake Highland Prep 4, Bishop Moore 0
Class 1A girls
The First Academy 4, Geneva School 3
Class 1A boys
Trinity Prep 4, Windermere Prep 0
Flag football
Ocoee (10-8), a third seed, ignored the rankings in a 25-6 win against top seed Seminole (11-2) in the Class 3A District 4 final.
District champions automatically advance to region quarterfinals Tuesday (1A-2A) and Wednesday (3A-4A) at higher seeds. That includes unbeaten Deltona (17-0), Harmony (16-1), Timber Creek (14-2), West Orange (13-3), Cypress (Creek 9-5) and Kissimmee Gateway (13-3).
Here are district final results:
4A District 3
No. 3 Ocoee defeated No. 1 Seminole, 25-6
4A District 4
Timber Creek d. No. 2 Colonial, 21-7
4A District 5
No. 1 West Orange d. No. 2 Horizon, 14-13
4A District 9
No. 1 Cypress Creek d. No. 2 Tohopekaliga, 25-0
4A District 10
No. 1 Harmony def. No. 2 Celebration, 26-13
3A District 4
No. 1 Oviedo d. No. 3 Mainland, 6-0
2A District 7
No. 1 Deltona d. No. 2. New Smyrna Beach, 26-12
2A District 10
No. 2 Gateway def. No. 1 Freedom (Tampa), 28-18
Beach volleyball
Hagerty (13-2), Horizon (9-2), Olympia (12-1), Kissimmee Osceola (9-2), Winter Springs (8-11), Montverde Academy (14-0) and Orangewood Christian (8-3) won district finals to advance to Monday region quarterfinal matches.
Montverde, ranked first in the area and second in 2A, defeated Santa Fe Catholic and The First Academy in a Wednesday doubleheader to win the 1A District 7 title.
Here are district final results:
3A District 2
No. 1 Ocala Forest defeated No. 2 DeLand, 3-2
3A District 3
No. 1 Hagerty d. No. 2 Lake Brantley, 5-0
3A District 4
No. 1 Horizon d. No. 2 West Orange, 4-1
3A District 5
No. 1 Winter Park d. No. 3 Lake Howell, 5-0
3A District 6
No. 1 Olympia d. No. 2 Lake Nona, 3-2
3A District 9
No. 1 Osceola d. No. 3 St. Cloud, 3-0
2A District 7
No. 4 Winter Springs d. No. 2 Mount Dora, 4-1
1A District 6
No. 1 Orangewood d. No. 2 Geneva, 3-1
1A District 7
No. 1 Montverde d. TFA, 4-1
Varsity content editor Buddy Collings can be contacted by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com.
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This story was originally published April 24, 2026 at 5:47 PM.