PNJ All-Area: Meet this year's superstars from the baseball and softball diamonds

The baseball and softball diamonds are where Santa Rosa County gained at least a couple more state champions.

Both the Jay baseball team and Pace softball team claimed state crowns at the Class 1A and Class 6A levels, respectively, to cap off the 2024 season. Both trips to the title were a little different, however.

Jay played the upset game in Fort Myers, defeating both the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the state, while the Royals were seeded third, ultimately beating Bozeman, 6-3, in the championship game.

Pace, one of the top teams in the state – and the nation, for that matter – got some revenge. After four consecutive trips to the state final four, the Patriots topped Bartow – the team that beat them in 2023 in the state championship – by a score of 2-0 to finally climb to the top of the mountain.

And those are just two teams that had successful seasons. Pensacola Catholic and Central baseball went on tears throughout the regular season, and Pace saw an incredible turnaround mid-season. On the softball side, Jay won a fourth consecutive district title, with other teams like West Florida and Gulf Breeze advancing deep into the postseason, maintaining a strong presence in the Panhandle.

Without further ado, here are the All-Area individual awards for the 2024 baseball and softball season. The First and Second All-Area Teams will be released on Sunday, June 30, with the rest of the spring sports to conclude the athletic season.

Baseball

Player of the Year

Chris Rembert, Pensacola Catholic

Pensacola Catholic baseball has been a storied and dominant program for decades now. And when you break several team records in one season to cap off a strong senior season, it’s easy to say you had a good – if not great – season.

Chris Rembert was virtually unstoppable at the plate with a .506 batting average for the Crusaders, going 45-for-89 at the plate in 29 games. He hit 38 RBIs, adding 10 doubles, two triples and nine home runs. Rembert posted an on-base percentage of .615, reaching base an additional 21 times with 18 walks. And then he’d come sprinting around the bases with 49 runs on the year – just one of his six team records broken this year. Rembert also had his best fielding season to date with a .939 fielding percentage, helping a strong Pensacola Catholic defense which allowed just 68 runs all year.

Hitter of the Year

Brock Clayton, Pensacola Catholic

Not far behind Rembert at the plate was another Crusader standout. Brock Clayton only went six games without a base hit. Clayton posted a .466 batting average, going 41-for-88 at the plate, as part of a strong Pensacola Catholic offense. He added seven doubles, two triples and four home runs with 28 RBIs.

In 29 games, 16 of those were multi-hit games, including a hitting streak of 11 games from March 28 to April 25. Clayton, who is signed to play at the University of Florida, plated an additional 28 runs this year

Pitcher of the Year

Landon Golden, Jay

An ace all year long for Jay, Landon Golden showed a lot of maturity as a sophomore on the mound. Golden threw a team-high 54 2/3 innings, striking out 60 batters in the process. He was the starting pitcher in the Royals’ win in the Class 1A state semifinals over Lafayette, the 2023 state runner-up, where he struck out a pair of batters in four innings.

Golden surrendered just eight earned runs for an ERA of 1.02, walking a mere eight batters and allowing 35 hits. His on-base percentage against was .238, the second-lowest on Jay’s squad.

Newcomer of the Year

Vaughn Howard, Pensacola Catholic

When you can make a name for yourself as the only freshman on the Pensacola Catholic baseball team – a team with some heavy hitters all across the lineup – you must be doing something right. In Vaughn Howard’s case, that’s correct.

In his first year with the program, Howard had a .357 batting average – fourth on the team – with 11 doubles and two home runs, tallying 27 RBIs and 21 runs. He added a .467 on-base percentage. Howard also had a .957 fielding percentage, primarily playing in the outfield. A speedy player, he added nine stolen bases.

Coach of the Year

Duane Raley, Jay

It’s been a pretty successful two years for Jay’s head coach. Duane Raley, in year one, made it to the Region 1-1A final, ultimately falling to Holmes County in a high-scoring affair. The Royals got their revenge – and then some – over Holmes County in the region semifinals. That wasn’t the end of Jay’s story, though, after the Royals claimed their first state championship since 1970 with a 6-3 win over Bozeman in Fort Myers. Jay finished with a 19-10 record, claiming the District 1-1A, Region 1-1A and state championship trophies.

Jay, the third seed, upset Bozeman, the top-seeded team in the championship. Don’t call it a “Cinderella Story,” though, because Jay’s players believed the state championship was theirs. Adversity struck after the Royals went down 2-0 early in the game before clawing back late in the game. And after the final out, Raley was able to witness everything from the top step of the dugout: “Just being a part of it was about as exciting as anything I can imagine,” Raley said.

Softball

Player of the Year

Jayden Heavener, Pace

Jayden Heavener has already been named the state’s Player of the Year by a few other organizations. So what’s one more award for Pace’s ace on the mound? Heavener threw an incredible 322 strikeouts across 142 innings this season for the Patriots, allowing just nine earned runs (0.44 ERA) and 31 hits. She went 25-2 on the year, including 11 no-hitters and one perfect game.

One of the top-ranked players in the class of 2024 across the country, Heavener also proved her weight in gold at the plate. With a .434 batting average, Heavener went 43-for-99 at the plate with six doubles, two triples and 12 home runs, adding 35 RBIs and plating 16 runs. She saved her best for last, however, crushing a two-run home run in the Class 6A state championship game against Bartow to cap off an incredible career for the LSU signee.

Hitter of the Year

Shelby McKenzie, Pace

So who was the other run in that two-run blast from Heavener? It was Shelby McKenzie, who got on base nearly 70% of the time this season. She reached base on a walk – preceded by a double earlier in the game against Bartow – before scoring the first run of the game. It was only made sweeter that Heavener was the one to knock her home.

McKenzie’s batting average of .617 was among the best in the state, going an incredible 58-for-94 at the plate. She added 13 doubles, a triple and 14 home runs with 49 RBIs and 50 runs. McKenzie struck out just four times on the year, and drew 24 walks. McKenzie will be staying in-state for college, as she’s signed with Florida State.

Pitcher of the Year

Sydney Scapin, West Florida

Signed to play at the University of South Alabama next year, Sydney Scapin ended her career on a high note. She led West Florida, which went 17-12 and fell in the Region 1-4A semifinals, at the pitcher’s circle. Scapin finished the year with 22 appearances, throwing 129 2/3 innings with 286 strikeouts.

Scapin surrendered just two extra-base hits: a double in the region semifinals against Wakulla, and a home run against Daphne (Alabama) early in the year. Scapin posted an ERA of just 1.34. Scapin concludes her career with 1,009 strikeouts in four years.

Newcomer of the Year

Avery Stuckey, Northview

Northview head coach Amy Holland noted that the Chiefs were “stacked with ninth- and 10th-graders” this past season. Northview went 22-5, posting its best season since 2019, when the Chiefs went 20-5. Avery Stuckey, a freshman, was one of those top underclassmen for the Chiefs, making Holland excited for the future of the program.

Stuckey posted a .358 batting average, going 29-for-81 at the plate with seven doubles and five home runs in the process. She plated 20 runs and 33 RBIs. An infielder, she had a fielding percentage of .854 to prove herself as a solid two-way player for Northview.

Coach of the Year

Lexi Alexander, Pace

It’s almost a sense of “finally” for Pace’s head coach, Lexi Alexander. After four consecutive seasons in the state final four – first with Jay as an assist in 2021, then in 2022 as an assistant for the Patriots, followed by state championship games in 2023 and 2024 – Alexander finally got to hoist the state championship trophy in Clermont.

Alexander led Pace to a 28-2 record and its first state championship since 2007. “Now I get to stop hearing how we should do it,” Alexander previously said with a laugh. This is the second straight Coach of the Year award for Alexander.

Ben Grieco is a sports reporter for the Pensacola News Journal. He can be reached on X (@BenGriecoSports) and via email at BGrieco@gannett.com .

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: PNJ All-Area: Meet this year's superstars from the baseball and softball diamonds