Mike Ridaught
Entering Monday night’s road game at Gainesville High, the Williston softball team was playing its first game in 10 days.
The Red Devils showed no signs of an extended spring break, scoring early and then holding on late in a 9-6 win against the Class 5A Hurricanes.
Williston, which is ranked No. 1 in the state in Class 1A by MaxPreps, erupted for 15 hits through five innings and carried an 8-1 lead into the bottom of the fifth inning.
“Being that we were off for a while I was expecting the bats to be a little slow,” said Williston coach Carl Williams. “We picked up in the middle and then at the end we kind of ran out of gas and she (pitcher Makenna Boyd) stopped hitting spots and balls got hit sharp.”
The Red Devils (14-2) were certainly sharp early.
Despite the long layoff, everyone in the lineup had a hit for Williston, led by first baseman Nevaeh Hayes who had a double, a triple, and three runs driven in.
Former Hurricane Cheyenne Boggs led off the second inning with a single to left field and later scored on an RBI single by eighth-grader Luna Asencion for a 1-0 lead. Then, Hayes drove in Savannah Rodriquez, who had also singled, on a sacrifice fly to center field for a 2-0 lead.
Hayes doubled in Asencion in the fourth inning for a 3-0 lead.
The Hurricanes (3-6) answered with a run in the bottom of the fourth inning thanks to some speed on the bases.
Junior Elise Knopf walked to lead off the inning and went from first to third on a sacrifice bunt by senior Karter Thorp. A soft hit ball by senior Michaela Cromarty was enough to score Knopf from third for to pull the Hurricanes within 3-1.
At the time, both pitchers were keeping their team in the game.
Despite the fact that Gainesville freshman Madison Dean had given up 10 hits through the first four innings, she was able to work out of a few jams with only three runs given up.
“She was getting herself out of a couple of jams early,” said GHS coach Chris Chronister. “She’s young. She’s just a freshman. She needs to hit her spots a little better, that’s where some of their big hits came from. I think she was missing on location. But overall, I was very pleased with her performance.”
Dean didn’t walk her first batter until the fourth and she finished the game with five strikeouts.
“She did exactly what we ask of our pitchers and that’s to throw strikes,” Chronister said. “Unfortunately, her defense let her down a couple of times. We had some miscues out there and that gave them some extra bases and some extra runs.”
Boyd, who picked up the win with a complete game effort, had a three-hitter going into the final inning.
“Makenna did a great job tonight,” Williams said. “She was throwing the ball hard and she was hitting her spots. I told her, ‘we’re going to need to work on that stamina a little bit, I know you got a little tired at the end,’ but hey, that’s what happens when you’ve got a defense behind you that gives you a chance to pick it up.”
The Red Devils managed to bat around in the top of the fifth inning, where they put the game out of reach.
After a ground out to start the inning, Rodriguez and Kendall Smith had consecutive singles. Both later scored on an infield hit by Asencion and an RBI triple by Hayes for a 5-1 lead.
“I had been struggling at the plate so for me to come through like that was really good for me and my team,” Hayes said. “I felt like even though we didn’t do so well the last inning, I feel like we had enough hits to come through together and win the game.”
Gainesville helped Williston out with a few errors, with the final two runs of the inning scoring on throwing errors as the Red Devils built a commanding 8-1 lead.
“When you build yourself a good lead like that it’s hard for a team to come all the way back,” Williams said.
However, GHS rallied for five runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, also capitalizing on Williston errors and four hits. Freshman Emma Barton and Thorp each had RBI singles.
“I liked our fire in the seventh inning,” Chronister said. “Those runs that we gave up early, they cost us.”
Williston will travel to Fort White on Tuesday at 7 p.m., while Gainesville will travel to Columbia (Lake City) on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
