'Canes Cut Cats, Win 10-0 On The Road

Twenty.

No, the number doesn't represent the number of degrees last night as Gainesville traveled to Buchholz High (4-8) for a rival softball match. It wasn’t the amount of blankets seen draped over freezing parents and students in the stands.

The Hurricanes (11-2) have played the Bobcats twice, this season. The total amount of runs scored by the ‘Canes? Two. Zero.

Gainesville hopped on the team bus talking about a 10-0 win—the exact score of their first meeting on Valentine’s Day this past month. Gainesville head coach Chris Chronister says its a simple formula behind the success.

“I think we play good defense and we pitch well, so we’ve quite a few shutouts this year and that goes straight to our pitchers. They’re strike-throwers,” Chronister said.

Starter Alisa Humphries threw for first three innings and racked eight K’s. Reghan Young added two of her own in the next three.

Although, their team’s scoring shined just as bright.

With runners on second and third in the top of they first inning, Humphrey belted a shot which allowed both to come home. In the second, a double Kat Gray allowed Natasha Fox to slide across home plate. Two batters later, Gray was brought home by Maggie Willis to extend the lead to four.

Fast-forward two innings, the fourth saw four ‘Canes graze home-plate. Jackie Chronister and Olivia Hanson went back-to-back with RBI-doubles to grow the lead. Fox fired a shot through the middle to bring home two more.

“I don’t know if it’s really a secret, but we just focus on really watching the ball, making good contact, making hard swings and not giving up any at-bats,” Chronister said emphatically. “Hitting is contagious. One person gets it, the next person continues. And then suddenly, you have ten runs.

Hanson tends to play it cool when it’s her turn to swing.

“I actually tell Jackie every game, ‘Get on base, get on base! Because I’ll score you.’,” she said.

Turning runs may be tough on Thursday night as they face Union County at 7 pm at ‘Canes Field. The Fightin’ Tigers (10-1) are a team they lost to on February 16th—the very next game after their first 10-0 win against the Bobcats.

“We struggled pretty early on in that game, our bats came alive in the later innings. So we need to make those adjustments sooner than later so we can score earlier and not get in a big hole,” Jackie said.

Coach C believes a win will come through great D.

“We gave up nine runs in two innings the first time we played them,” Chronister said. “If we just play good defense and pitch, our offense will score a couple runs. That will be the key.”