By now, University Christian softball coach Keith Stroud is used to looking up and down the diamond and seeing starters in their freshman years. Or eighth grade. Or seventh grade.
“It seems like we’ve been young for a long time,” Stroud said.
Packed with talent from the middle-school ranks, University Christian nonetheless carries an established track record entering the Florida High School Athletic Association Class 1A high school softball final four against Miami Schoolhouse Prep.
UC (19-4) holds the No. 1 seed for Class 1A ahead of the first pitch, scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 19 at Boombah-Soldiers Creek Park in Longwood.
On a roster with more middle schoolers (six) than seniors (two), the next wave is showing they’re already prepared for the title challenge.
“The program has gotten to the point where that bar is set a little high,” Stroud said. “Then everybody that comes along, the older ones kind of teach the younger ones, ‘Hey, this is what is expected and this is how we do it.'”
NEW LOOK FOR UC
Three years after winning the state championship with a 23-2 record, UC is back with what amounts to a new team. Only senior shortstop Elissa Murdock and versatile sophomore Ava Surles remain from 2023, but the experienced and the not-so-experienced have meshed smoothly.
“Everyone’s really close friends,” Surles said. “It’s fun that everyone is so tight, coming together.”
Stroud said an adjustment to the off-season plans helped them progress further than in 2025, when Tallahassee North Florida Christian knocked UC out in the Region 1-1A final.
“We did something this past summer that we hadn’t done. We played just a short season during the summer, about four tournaments with this group, because we felt like a lot of new kids came in and we had to see how they could play and how they could adjust to things,” Stroud said. “That was a big plus.”
In today’s typical UC lineup, middle schoolers take center stage. Seventh-grade outfielder Sinai Tunsill bats a team-high .500 with seven doubles, and eighth-graders Mila Lackowski (.320, 6 2B), Lydia Smith (.310, 24 runs) and Naomi Winburn (.410, 6 2B) are all among the top performers at the plate.
It’s nothing new at the school on Jacksonville’s Southside. Starting infielder Murdock got her start on varsity as a sixth-grader in the coronavirus-shortened 2020 season, and past UC stars like Sophia Kardatzke — now a first-team All-Big South honoree for NCAA regional finalist USC Upstate — have sometimes played seven years on the varsity squad.
“Younger kids, they haven’t developed any bad habits, and they don’t know better,” Stroud said. “They just go at it full steam ahead.”
At the opposite end of the experience spectrum is senior pitcher Dixie Tessier, a Catawba Valley commit who’s excelling as a lights-out pitcher (9-0, 0.68 ERA), a reliable batter (.349, four doubles) and a senior leader.
“They’re all my softball sisters,” Tessier said. “I get to mentor them, and we play hard together.”
For Stroud, who got his first taste of state championships as a starter on UC’s baseball squads in the late 1970s, each new playoff run brings its own excitement.
“It never gets old,” Stroud said. “I don’t care how many times you go or whatever, it’s always something with a new group.”
CLASS 1A SOFTBALL STATE SEMIFINAL
University Christian (19-4) vs. Miami Schoolhouse Prep (16-11)
When: 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 19
Where: Boombah-Soldiers Creek Park, Longwood
How to watch: Streaming via NFHS Network.
Outlook: UC holds the top seed entering the matchup with Schoolhouse Prep, which is only in its second FHSAA softball season. For the Wolfpack, who bat .334 as a team, seniors Angelly Benitez (.432, 8 2B) and Michelle Dominguez (.394, 5 2B) have dished out much of the damage at the plate, while Analys Uriarte (10-7, 3.04) and Cecilia Valdes (5-3, 2.42) have split the pitching duties. Schoolhouse Prep may be new, but they own some wins over much larger opponents, including 12-2 over four-time champion St. Thomas Aquinas. UC, though, has batters Sinai Tunsill, Elissa Murdock, Naomi Winburn and Piper Tessier all above .380. The winner plays for the title at 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 20, against Fort Myers Evangelical Christian or Casselberry Geneva.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: University Christian softball young but ready for FHSAA final four
Reporting by Clayton Freeman, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
