Juan Campiz protects first base on a softball field at Miami Lakes Optimist Park. He leans toward the batter, ready to field whatever may come from home plate.     His spot on the diamond is one he has held since he was a boy.      That child’s love for the game has continued to present day, when he is a youthful 96.      “I started playing baseball when I was 10...

    From a Miami Lakes office park springs great beauty: Pregnant women in full bloom, dressed in flowing, bejeweled gowns rented by Maternity Magical Moments.     Business owner Leidy Alvarez wants women to feel their most beautiful in photographs that become keepsakes of their maternity journeys.      “Not every client wants to look the same,” Alvarez, 27, said in...

   Led by state champion Mason O’Dell and state finalists Kalias Nazario and Damian Soto, the Mater Lakes wrestling program sent 16 athletes (12 boys, 4 girls) to the FHSAA state championships this year. The boys placed fourth in the state Class 1A tournament, and the girls placed eighth in the state.       Mason O’Dell, an eighth-grader, won his title at 106 pounds to finish with a 48-3 record....

     The Jewels Dance Team at Barbara Goleman Senior High School are national champions after competing in the NDA High School Nationals in Orlando March 3 - 5.       The team last won the national championship in 2011, when Coach Cianella Crystal was a senior at the school and captain of the team. The Jewels’ other coach is Yessenia Monegro.       They scored in three...

     Marcelino Sotolongo of Miami Lakes photographed the full “Pink Moon” on April 5.      It is called the “Pink Moon” because it appears at the same time as when an early spring wildflower called creeping phlox presents its pink blossoms, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac.      “I was out relaxing on my backyard dock, enjoying the beautiful night and...