The Gainesville softball team is still trying to navigate its way without injured star pitcher Leanna Bourdage.
On Thursday night, senior pitcher McKenna O’Sullivan tossed a complete game three-hitter and allowed just one earned run as GHS defeated rival Buchholz, 11-2, on the road.
“I didn’t think I pitched that well, but honestly it was the fact that I was so confident, and my defense had my back,” said O’Sullivan, who walked two and struck out five. “I started most of the at bats behind in the count, which that’s tough as a pitcher is having to get your way back into the at bat. Just knowing that I have a defense that plays behind me, it definitely helped me out.”
The Santa Fe College signee also helped lead the Hurricanes (5-5) at the plate with two hits, including a double and two runs driven in.
In the top of the first inning, senior Madisyn Gillins (3-for-3, 4 runs) singled to left field to start the game.
O’Sullivan then doubled to right center field, scoring Gillins for an early 1-0 lead.
“I saw a pitch that was middle out, and I saw the shift that they had going on, like the second baseman was more up the middle and there was a huge gap where the second baseman normally is, so I took it. I just hit the ball, made sure to get through my extension to get all of the ball, and I knew that Madi was fast enough to go around the bases,” O’Sullivan said.
Junior Adriana Koralewski grounded out to third base to score Bourdage, who went in as a courtesy runner, and gave the Canes a 2-0 lead. GHS never trailed in the game.
“I thought we played pretty well,” said Gainesville coach Chris Chronister. “We definitely had a couple of things that could have been a little better, but overall, I was happy with our performance tonight. McKenna did a great job in the circle…our hitting I thought was good. We were on base a lot, and I thought we had pretty good at-bats.”
Buchholz (7-3) did answer though on a solo home run to left field by senior catcher Juliana Abraham to cut the deficit in half, 2-1, in the bottom of the first inning.
“We call her ‘Bear,’ that’s her nickname, she’s a big bat, a very strong bat, can hit the ball hard and can really set the tone for us a lot of times,” said Buchholz coach Will Hooper. “When she led off that inning with a home run, I felt like that was the spark that we needed early to get us motivated and get us going and, unfortunately, we just couldn’t get it done tonight.”
However, the Hurricanes seized the momentum right back on a single and stolen base by junior Lana Renicks, who scored on a throwing error by Abraham for a 3-1 lead.
Alabama State signee Braylin Cook hit a two-run home run to right field to extend it to 5-1 in the top of the fourth, and two big Buchholz errors contributed to a three-run top of the fifth and an 8-1 advantage.
GHS scored at least one run in every inning except the final inning and finished with 10 hits in the game.
“Definitely, I take a lot of the responsibility for our performance,” Hooper said. “For starters, I was outcoached. Gainesville is a phenomenal team, phenomenal coaches. They know how to win, and they prepared their team a lot better than I did and it showed tonight on the scoreboard.”
The first three hitters in the order combined for six hits, four runs batted in and five runs scored.
“The top of our lineup is really hot right now,” Chronister said. “Madi (Gillins), she was on base all four times and scored a run all four times, really great at bats for her. McKenna was hitting the ball good, and Braylin had the home run opposite field. They’re hitting the ball good.”
Buchholz will travel to Tampa Catholic at 6 p.m. on Thursday, while GHS will take a week off for spring break.
“We’re excited about that,” Hooper said. “It’s a great opportunity sometimes to see different schools, different cities, and kind of spread out our schedule a little bit, but yeah, we’ve got to jump right into that. It’s going to be another tough opponent, so we’ve got to shake this game off quickly.”