Wildcats finish strong in state tournament

Wildcats dominated the tennis court in the last week with two powerful team performances led by strong individual matches by two stars.

The girls and boys teams won every match in the regional tournament April 12 to go on to the state finals at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs. Led by Rocco English on the boys side and Joulia Likhanskaia for the girls, they finished strong against the best in the state, with English bowing out in the quarterfinals, and defending state champ Likhanskaia destroying her competition en route to a repeat title.

Likhanskaia’s decisive wins punctuated the tournament with 6-4, 6-2; 6-3, 6-1; and 6-3, 6-2 scores to close out her junior year on top.

Baseball bamboozled

Winter Park entered their game against Boone with a string of four wins and a massive barrage of strong hitting. They left smarting from an 8-0 loss.

For the Wildcats (14-8, 6-1), their most prolific offensive week was highlighted by two double-digit wins before they faced the Braves. They’d just come off an April 11 shutout win over Freedom in which they’d piled on nine runs.

But a lights-out pitching performance from Boone’s Frank Grandinette made the game a quiet one for Winter Park, which failed to score in the blowout shutout.

The Wildcats will play their final weekend of regular season baseball on the road, starting at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 19, at Osceola before heading for Olympia at 4 p.m. Friday, April 20, to close things out. Then district play begins next week.