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Columbia pitcher Zoryana Hughes sets to pitch against Gainesville on Wednesday night. (BRENT KUYKENDALL/Lake City Reporter)
On a cold, windy night Columbia’s bats were, well, a little cold.
Luckily for the lineup, pitcher Zoryana Hughes brought the heat to shut down Gainesville to end a long losing streak to its bitter rival.
Hughes struck out 13 batters and allowed just three hits to lead the Tigers to a 2-0 shutout over the Hurricanes at home Wednesday night in District 2-5A action. It was Columbia’s first win over Gainesville since 2018, snapping a six-game skid in the rivalry.
And if it weren’t for Hughes, that number could have very well become seven. The Tigers (9-3) scored a run apiece in the first two innings but didn’t score again despite nine hits, leaving 10 runners on base in their first game back from spring break.
“It was an amazing performance on her part,” Columbia coach Cindy Dansby said. “And it’s like I told them, if our pitcher had been off tonight it could’ve been a whole different story.”
Hughes was at her best late in the contest. She struck out 10 of the final 14 batters she faced and worked out of two jams where she faced the tying run at the plate in the fifth inning and the go-ahead run in the sixth.
Each time Hughes worked herself out of trouble with a couple of strikeouts to hold off the Hurricanes (3-7).
“I was feeling pretty good,” Hughes said. “My curves were definitely working a lot. I threw a lot of screws, my rise was good as usual, so it was a good mixture.”
Columbia gave Hughes all the run support she needed in the first inning. Sakiya Merriex led off with a single, stole second, advanced to third on a single by McKenna O’Sullivan, and then scored on a sac fly by Alexis Blair.
O’Sullivan nearly made it 2-0 but she was thrown out at home trying to score from second base on a single from Delgado to end the frame.
The Tigers did double their lead in the second inning thanks to some poor defense from GHS. Luisa Taylor, who finished 3 for 3 with a triple, led off with a single and then scored all the way from first base when the Hurricanes threw a routine ground ball past first baseman Clare Cavallari.
But Columbia left runners at first and second base in the inning and failed multiple times later to score against Gainesville pitcher Madison Dean, who struck out three batters but also walked five in addition to giving up nine hits. The Tigers missed a golden opportunity in the fourth with runners in the same spots again, but when O’Sullivan hit a single to right field, Kimber Long didn’t take off from first base quick enough and was easily thrown out at second to end the threat.
Columbia also loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth but failed to score. Taylor later led off the sixth with a triple but was left stranded as well.
“That’s just not how we normally hit,” Dansby said. “We’ve got to make better adjustments. That just wasn’t us hitting. I think they’re still in spring break mode a little bit. I thought that maybe coming into the game they were chill and going to be relaxed and maybe take that in and drive the ball, but no. We’ve definitely got to make adjustments quicker with the bat.”
With her offense failing to string hits together, Hughes did enough to keep the Hurricanes at bay along with some help from her defense. An error allowed Gainesville’s Olivia Lockerman to reach base safely to start the fifth inning but Hughes responded with a pair of strikeouts, the second leading to a strike ’em out, throw ’em out when catcher Emily Delgado gunned down Lockerman trying to steal second base.
Delgado also threw out a runner earlier in the game stealing second base, which ended the top of the second inning.
“That was a really great play,” Hughes said of her double play with Delgado. “I know Emily has been working on her throw downs a lot, and she’s getting a lot better so I’m really proud of her.”
GHS had a golden opportunity in the sixth inning to either tie the game or take the lead when Emma Bunt laid down a bunt single to lead things off before Karter Thorps reached base on a one-out error. But Hughes issued back-to-back strikeouts to escape another jam.
“It doesn’t really bother me that much,” Hughes said of baserunners. “I know what I can do. I can’t really control what everybody else does so I just focus on what I can control.”
In addition to Taylor going 3 for 3, O’Sullivan was 2 for 4 and Delgado went 2 for 3. Blair finished 1 for 3 with the game’s lone RBI.
Dansby hopes to see some more consistency from her lineup the rest of the week. Columbia hosts Riverside on Thursday for Senior Night at 6:30 p.m. before Middleburg visits on Friday for a 6 p.m. start in a district showdown.
“It’s a good win. It’s a win. There’s a positive,” Dansby said. “But it’s just frustrating when I know we can do better. I told them, there were some good moments. There were some good things. Luisa was 3 for 3, Blair sat back on a changeup and drove it and she hasn’t done that, so there were positive things. It’s just frustrating that we’re not hitting the way we can.”