The spring sports season has begun, and several area teams are already flexing their muscles. Most of those teams are located on the Eastern Shore.

Fairhope’s 6A Pirate baseball team has been the early favorite to make a run at a title this season, and it is easy to see why. The Pirates are loaded. Two Pirates, Daryl Norris and Garrett Pitts, have already signed with SEC power Mississippi State, and more big signings shouldn’t be too far away. Fairhope also has one of the winningest coaches in south Alabama in Stu Fuller. Fuller won his 300th career game earlier this season.

Fairhope’s senior class is strong, but its underclassmen are great, too. Evan East, Chase Domino and Wes Kent are tough to get out at the plate.

If any baseball team from Baldwin County wins a state title this season, it will be the Fairhope Pirates.

Fairhope’s softball Pirates are on a roll, too. Jonathan Heflin’s ladies started the season with a 12-3 record and won the Baldwin County tournament and the Dolphin Classic tournament. It is hard to beat the Lady Pirate dynamic pitching duo of Grey Adams and Farish Beard. Both are nearly impossible to hit. Adams struck out 14 batters in the Dolphin Classic title game against Gulf Breeze, Fla. and Beard fanned nine in a 1-0 shutout over Faith Academy in the semis.

The Spanish Fort Toro boys track and field team could run away with a second-straight 5A state championship this season.

The Toros lost a lot of talent to graduation from last year’s squad, but return a very talented team with runners Brett Hanke, Trevor Stevens and Ben Redman, sprinters Davares Ambrose and Adam Adcock, thrower Ethan Rich and pole vaulter Andrew Hollingsworth.

Toro coach Chris Schmidt’s girls team could also contend for a title. Sprinter Nikki Riley, distance runner Katrina Garofno, thrower Latifia Thomas and hurdler Bria Gipson should be strong contenders for the Lady Toros.

At Bayside Academy, Caroline Beebe could lead the Lady Admiral golf team to a title. Beebe, who won the 2008 championship at Spanish Fort before transferring to Bayside, shot a two-over par 38 to lead the unbeaten Lady Admirals to a quad-match win over McGill-Toolen, St. Paul’s and Faith Academy last week.

In soccer, the defending 6A champ Fairhope Pirates are off to a rocky start by their standards. The Pirates lost a ton of talent from last year’s top team. Foley’s boys may be the soccer team to beat in the county this season. Goal tender Keldon Simkins is nearly impossible to score on, and Jorge Santamaria is a scoring machine. Simkins had a .96 goals against average last season and posted nine shutouts, and Santamaria had a team-high 25 goals in 2009.

The Gulf Shores soccer team started out on a roll, too. Led by former Foley coach Tatum Saltz, the Dolphins shot out to a 6-1-1 start. Senior goal keeper Nick Anagnostopoulos is a key on defense for the Dolphins.

The Gulf Shores golf team, coached by Jay Koziol, missed the state tournament by just three shots last year. Six Dolphin golfers qualified for sub-state last season, and all six return this season. Cody Rhodes is the top senior, while Colin Anderson, Will Crim, Daniel Foote, Blaine Miller, Colten Smith and Kevin Klose are back.

Eric Mann is the Sports Coordinator for Gulf Coast Newspapers. Reach him at: emann@gulfcoastnewspapers.com