By claiming a third consecutive District 16-4A Championship, the Key West High baseball team knew there would be a place for them in the 4A state bracket — it was just a matter of where they would land. On the other side of things, the Key West High softball team was waiting to see if they did enough to garner an at-large bid after losing in the District 16-4A Championship game.
The 2024 campaigns continue into the postseason for both of the Key West hardball squads, along with the Marathon High softball team, as the Lady Conchs and Lady ‘Fins both took on competitive enough schedules to earn a berth into the region tournament.
Despite picking up wins in just six of its 20 games this season, Key West’s strength of schedule ranked 25th overall of 275 teams in the state to place the Lady Conchs sixth in the Region 4-4A single-elimination bracket, setting up a rematch of the district championship 8-3 loss against St. Brendan, on Wednesday, May 8, on the Sabres’ diamond at 6:30 p.m. A win for Key West will move them on to either play No. 2 Jensen Beach or No. 7 Dr. Joaquin Garcia High.
All the region openers will be played on Wednesday.
Marathon’s first pitch is at 3:30 p.m. versus top-seeded Miami Christian, which claimed the crown in District 16-2A play that included the Lady ‘Fins. In fact, Marathon is one of four teams to advance to the state tournament out of its districts as along with the No. 1 Victors (16-7-1 overall) and No. 8 Dolphins (12-5 overall) is Florida Christian (15-9 overall), which is ranked fourth in the region and Palmer Trinity (10-10 overall) is seventh. The winner of Florida Christian and AIE, both of which defeated Key West this season, awaits the winner between Marathon and Miami Christian in the region semifinals.
With both of the Monroe County playoff-bound softball teams on the road, the Key West baseball team will host Jensen Beach on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. Despite the Falcons (16-5 overall) holding the higher seed at No. 4, they lost the District 13-4A championship game, 2-1, to the region’s top-ranked team, Cardinal Gibbons, while by the Conchs claiming the district title, it earned the rights to host the quarterfinal contest. Even with a 13-12 record on the season, Key West enters ranked 11th overall in Class 4A, according to MaxPreps, with the most difficult strength of schedule among the class at 14.6, while Jensen Beach comes in with a stretch ranking of 10.6.
Key West won six of its final eight games to close out the regular season, with a victory on Wednesday advancing them to a likely meeting with No. 1 Cardinal Gibbons.
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