A roundup of Southwest Florida district baseball championships played on Friday, April 17, 2026.
District 1A-11
Canterbury 3, Evangelical Christian 2: With the battle for the Class 1A-11 championship knotted at 2-all in the bottom of the seventh inning, the top of the Cougars’ lineup slammed the door shut at Terry Park on Friday night.
Junior Noah Kiefer and senior Brayden Habuda each singled off ECS’s Leo Smith to start the rally, and senior Ever Silvente walked to load the bases with no outs and set up junior Ashby Piatt with a chance to play hero.
Piatt delivered, driving a ball to center field for the walk-off victory.
“I saw that pitch come in, and I knew it was the one I wanted,” Piatt said. “I was waiting for it all night. I missed a couple fastballs earlier in the game. Didn’t get too upset about it – move onto the next play. Once I saw the ball go into the gap, I knew. I knew they were scoring.”
The Canterbury players rushed onto the field to celebrate a hard-fought repeat as district champions.
“It had to be earned,” Canterbury head coach Frank Turco said. “It was a great district game, and kudos to (ECS). They’re a great team.”
The Sentinels drew first blood in the second inning when freshman Gavin Teeter and senior Harlan Haugen each drove in runs for a 2-0 lead.
The Cougars got one back after senior Maddux Wolff hit into a fielder’s choice with the bases loaded. However, ECS was able to escape that inning with no further damage.
Canterbury senior Anthony Meady, who relieved Ian Long after three innings, came through for the Cougars as he pitched four scoreless innings with five strikeouts and allowed just two hits.
ECS junior pitcher Jackson Perkins made it tough for the Canterbury batters to get into a rhythm. In his start, he allowed two earned runs over five innings while recording six strikeouts.
“I want to say we didn’t play our best, but I’m going to give all the credit to the pitcher out there, Perkins,” Turco said. “He did a great job pitching. Their hitters battled like crazy. That’s a tough team over there.”
The Sentinels had their best chance to extend the lead in the fifth inning when they loaded the bases with one out, but the Cougars flipped a double play to end the inning.
“Probably the difference in the game at that stage, and that propelled us to get a chance to win the game,” Turco said.
Canterbury evened things up in the bottom of the fifth when Silvente singled on a ground ball that got through the infield.
The Cougars came through with timely hitting again in the seventh as Piatt’s single secured the trophy.
“It’s just insane,” Piatt said. “Never been in this situation before. Never hit a walk-off to win districts. It means a lot to me.”
Canterbury walked it off against ECS in the district title game for a second straight season – but last year it came via mercy rule 13-3 win after five innings.
Led by head coach Derrick Lutz, the Sentinels have taken a major leap, earning a 20-win season for the first time since 2011.
Canterbury, the reigning Class 1A state champions, didn’t have it easy against ECS and the road to running it back will only get tougher moving forward.
“We’re a year older, a year stronger, a year wiser, but we have some hiccups though,” Turco said. “If you watch the game, you’ll see some hiccups that we have to fix and guys have to be willing to sacrifice a little more and be a little more selfless. And that’s what we have to get better on as a coaching staff to help the players understand that you’re playing for the name on the front of the shirt, not the back.”
— Dustin Levy
District 3A-11
Bishop Verot 6, Aubrey Rogers 0: Joey Lawson finished his fifth varsity no-hitter in the most fitting way: on a called strike three.
The Bishop Verot hurler gave Aubrey Rogers’ hitters little to work with, striking out 11 and leading the Vikings to their fifth straight district championship with a 6-0 win over Aubrey Rogers on Friday night. He struck out five straight batters looking in the first two innings alone.
“I’m super proud of Joe,” Bishop Verot first-year head coach Bryan Marotta said. “I know any time Joe gets out on the mound, when he’s on like that, it’s going to be tough for anybody.”
The Vikings (18-8) earned an automatic entry to the Class 3A regionals. The Patriots (17-8) will likely benefit from their strength of schedule to earn an at-large bid, which means the two teams could very well face each other again soon.
And while the loss was a disappointment for Aubrey Rogers, the game marked the first appearance in a district championship game in school history.
“I mean, Year 3 and being able to say that we were here is a step forward,” Aubrey Rogers coach Clay Entrekin said. “And hopefully we’ll continue to keep making those.”
Lawson (5-2), who will pitch for the University of North Carolina next year, has a screamer of a fastball that has been clocked by Perfect Game at 93 miles per hour. But it was the slider and curve ball that had the Aubrey Rogers guessing, usually incorrectly.
The off-speed pitches were used both to start and finish an at-bat. Lawson got ahead in counts, and then used both his fastball and curve for strikeouts. He ended the top of the sixth and seventh innings with a 12-6 curve that fell from what seemed like the stratosphere right into the strike zone.
“We leaned on it because every fastball they were fouling off, making contact,” Lawson said. “So when we could go breaking ball early and get ahead like that pitching backwards. I mean, it was unhittable at that point.”
But no-hitters also require full-team participation, and the Viking defense was perfect. This was exemplified in the top of the fifth inning, when Aubrey Rogers’ designated hitter EJ Byrnes batted a sharply hit ground ball down the third base foul line. Verot third baseman Braylon Sheffield dove and gloved it. Then he jumped up and fired a strike to first baseman Carter Chalder, beating Byrnes there.
What made it more challenging was that the Patriots were pitching well, too. Starter Cole Woessner pitched 4.1 scoreless innings (3-1), only giving up one run in the fifth when the third base umpire called him for a balk. That allowed Brody Baxmann to score from third base.
The Vikings’ bats took over in the bottom of the sixth, starting with Chalder leading off the inning with a double down the left field line. Nicky Raber plated him with a single. Baxmann hit a low liner to right field to bring home Raber. Anthony Reitler hit a bouncing ball past the third baseman and shortstop to get aboard. Then Nico Ayars blew up the scoreboard with a towering fly ball that cleared the left-field fence for a 3-run homer to make it 6-0.
“It’s a rough spot for us,” Entrekin said. “But we’ll go back to the drawing board. We’ll refine some of the things and make sure that we learn and grow from some of the mistakes and get back to where we need to be.”
— Dave Montrose
District 5A-12
Palmetto Ridge 4, Gulf Coast 3: In a game with plenty of pitching and zeroes on the scoreboard, Gabe Garcia came through late for the Palmetto Ridge baseball team to deliver a district title for the Bears.
Garcia doubled home two runs for Palmetto Ridge in the seventh to break a 1-1 tie and help the Bears win the district title over Gulf Coast at Gulf Coast High School.
The late offense punctured a pitcher’s duel featuring Palmetto Ridge’s Gregory Carrasco and Eric Hermanson of Gulf Coast.
Carrasco pitched seven innings and allowed only five hits. At one point, he struck out seven straight batters.
Hermanson pitched six innings, five of which were shutout frames.
“It all started with pitching. Carrasco did a great job throwing strikes,” said Palmetto Ridge coach Connor Perry. “He threw a ton of strikes, and kept them on their heels all night long. Gulf Coast is an excellent team, so you have to play perfect to beat them, and tonight we did. The seniors also did a great job.”
The Bears missed some opportunities to score, leaving seven runners on base. “In the postseason, you have to be mentally tough,” Perry said. “You can’t think about the mistakes, you just have to keep going.”
Garcia had two hits and two RBI for the Bears (15-10). Anthony San Pedro also had two hits.
Palmetto Ridge scored three in the vital seventh inning to take a 4-1 lead. The Sharks scored two in their last at-bat before Palmetto Ridge secured the final out. “We told Carrasco before the game, ‘You’re throwing 105 pitches tonight.’ We figured if we scored runs, we’d have a good chance to win. Carrasco never tired – he’s an animal.”
Palmer Johnson had two hits and two RBI for Gulf Coast (15-10).
“It was a district final, you’ve got to expect a close game,” said Gulf Coast coach Pete Garcia. “Give credit to both starting pitchers. The game usually comes down to whoever makes the first mistake, or who makes the least mistakes. They (Palmetto Ridge) had some clutch hits, and we made mistakes.”
It was the teams’ second meeting of the season. Gulf Coast beat Palmetto Ridge 5-2 on March 4.
“Hermanson pitched outstanding,” Garcia said. “He’s been a great pitcher in a lot of our big games all season, so you’ve got to expect that from him. We came back and had the chance to tie it at the end, and that all you can ask of the team.”
After 3 1/2 scoreless innings, the Sharks came through with a run in the bottom of the fourth. Jonathan Kacinas led off by being hit by a pitch and, one out later, came home on Brandon Borrago’s double down the left field line in what was Gulf Coast’s first hit of the game.
Palmetto Ridge tied it immediately with a run in the top of the fifth. Anthony San Pedro led off with a hit, was sacrificed to second by O’Brien, and scored by hustling around on an infield hit by Jayden Herrera.
— Tom Corwin
District 4A-12
Barron Collier 10, Estero 2: Old-school baseball, bunts, the hit-and-run along with some base stealing helped Barron Collier to the district championship at Bob Smith Field.
Estero looked like it was ready to give the Cougars a game when Kohler Scott lined a single to right, and Evan Goeller blasted a double to almost the same spot to give the Wildcats an early 1-0 lead.
Pitcher Andrew Maroney settled down to close out the first with a strikeout.
The Cougars wasted little time getting back in the game.
John Minerva walked and stole second. Casey Johnson followed with a beautiful bunt single to no man’s land, moving Minerva to third. Alan Overmyer then drilled a pitch to left for a sacrifice fly before an error plated Johnson to give Barron Collier a 2-1 lead.
“The big difference today was our starting pitcher was hurt. He wanted to throw, but at the end of the day, he just didn’t have it,” said Wildcat head coach Xavier Medina.
CJ Estrada followed starter Rylan Stewart to the mound in the second and proceeded to record six straight outs before the wheels fell off.
“We made an adjustment, and that’s what this game is all about. It’s a game of adjustments,” said Cougars head coach Adam Johnson.
The Cougars batted around in the fourth, scoring six runs, four earned off of Estrada and two more off his replacement Derek Van Roekel.
The rally featured more base stealing and bunts.
As for the scrappy brand of baseball Johnson said, “We build our team around what we got, everybody knows their roll… we talk about what the other team is going to give us, and we try to take advantage of it.”
Meanwhile, Maroney was on cruise control with Johnson gobbling up ground ball after ground ball before the Wildcats finally plated another run in the sixth thanks to a Ryan Greenleaf single and a Scott double.
The Cougars responded with two runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth, aided by another bunt single, a sacrifice bunt, and a Hudson Burger single.
Tyler White came on for Barron Collier in the seventh and closed the game with a strikeout.
As he looked forward to Friday’s regional quarterfinal, Johnson was all smiles for another reason, the outstanding play of his son Casey who went 2 for 3 with two runs scored and two RBIs and played stellar defense.
“He’s played great all year. It’s been an honor and a blessing to coach him for four years,” said Johnson.
— John Rinkenbaugh
District 4A-11
Island Coast 5, Lemon Bay 4: Island Coast’s Lonnie Campos stepped to the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning with the fate of the District 4A-11 championship in his hands.
There was just one problem.
“I was so nervous, I couldn’t even hold the bat straight to be honest,” he said.
Thankfully for the Gators and their shortstop, that feeling passed. Campos lined the second pitch he saw to the left-center field gap, driving home senior Logan Hawkins from second base to lift Island Coast to a 5-4 victory over Lemon Bay and its third consecutive district title.
“This team’s amazing,” said Campos, who transferred to Island Coast from LaBelle for his senior season. “We just grind, man. We play as a team.”
This marked the second straight walk-off win for the Gators in the district championship, both times against the Manta Rays. Last season, Island Coast scored six runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to stun Lemon Bay, 7-6. While Friday’s victory wasn’t quite that dramatic, it continued a season-long pattern for the Gators.
“I’m not sure how great a baseball team we are, but we’ve got a great group of competitors,” Island Coast coach Clint Montgomery said. “These guys have fought through quite a few games this year when it looked bleak and they found a way to come back.
“When they took the lead, I didn’t even say anything to the guys. They’ve been there, done that. Just let them go play and see if we’re good enough. And we got lucky to find a way.”
Island Coast senior right-hander Harrison Kabel looked dominant on the mound early, retiring 10 Lemon Bay batters in a row at one stretch. But with two outs in the fourth inning, Manta Rays senior center fielder James Allen ripped a double for Lemon Bay’s first hit of the game. Designated hitter Daniel Cubbillian followed with an RBI single, putting the Manta Rays (12-11) in front, 1-0.
The Gators (23-2) quickly struck back, scoring three unearned runs in the bottom of the frame on two Lemon Bay errors.
In the top of the sixth, it was the Manta Rays’ turn to take advantage of some shaky defense, loading the bases on a single and two consecutive Island Coast errors. Kabel struck out Allen for the first out, but walked Cabaillian on a 3-2 pitch to force home a run and make it 3-2. A bloop single and a fielder’s choice scored two more runs and put Lemon Bay back in front, 4-3.
“They didn’t really hit anything hard that inning, Montgomery said. “We’ve got to do a better job defensively in that spot of finding an out. We missed a couple of chances and that extended the inning.”
Island Coast answered again, tying the game 4-4 in the bottom of the sixth on an infield single, a walk and another Manta Rays’ error.
Sophomore Archer Ellis retired Lemon Bay in order in the top of the seventh in relief of Kabel, setting the stage for the dramatic finish. Hawkins led off with a ringing double to deep center field. The Manta Rays opted to intentionally walk junior Aiden Bonagura to get to Campos, who delivered the district-winning hit.
The Gators are as hot as a team can be entering the FHSAA playoffs, riding a 15-game winning streak. They are also unbeaten at home with a perfect 14-0 mark.
“All that stuff doesn’t matter,” Montgomery said. “We can look at achievements after the season. Right now, we’ve still got games to play and our mindset shouldn’t be how many games we’ve won in a row. It should be, can we win the next one?”
— Dan DeLuca
District 1A-12
St. John Neumann 13, Village School 1: Rowan Lee went 3 for 3 with 3 runs and 2 RBI, Anthony Rosato hit a triple and drove in 3 runs, Cole Travers hit two doubles, scored once and drove in 2 runs, while Anthony Holloway had 2 RBIs and a run.
District 6A-13
Ida Baker 9, Gateway 0: In a game played Thursday, Nick Conticelli pitched 5 scoreless innings, allowing 2 hits and 3 walks with 6 strikeouts to earn the win, while Brody Root closed it out, throwing 2 scoreless innings, allowing 2 hits with 4 strikeouts. Yadiel Pena went 3 for 3 with 2 doubles, 4 RBIs and 2 runs scored, and Caden Fricano scored three times.
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: See which SW FL baseball teams were crowned district champions Friday
Reporting by Dan DeLuca and Dustin B Levy, Fort Myers News-Press & Naples Daily News / Fort Myers News-Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
