Back-to-back home runs and a strong defense powered Johnson City to an 11-1 win over Goldthwaite last Tuesday.
Johnson City moved to a 5-0 record in district play with the win, which was a balanced effort up and down the roster both at the plate and in the pitching circle. The Lady Eagles’ pitching staff struck out 12 Goldthwaite batters and every Johnson City batter reached base at least once. Midway through the district season, the Lady Eagles are showing off both their offensive and defensive strength and its depth across the field.
“We hit the ball, onethrough- nine,” coach Scott Garcia said. “(Senior Bo Crownover), anytime she gets up there and pitches, she can bring it. And then (sophomore Ema Davis) coming in, being closer, it was big for us, and she shut them down.”
Johnson City scored in every inning against Goldthwaite, taking a 10-run lead to trigger an early win in the sixth inning. Two of the loudest hits for Johnson City came in the second inning, when senior Isabelle Haley hit her first home run of the season, driving in two runs, before Crownover followed with a solo shot of her own one at bat later. Senior Chloe Clark added a third home run to the team’s tally in the third inning, and by the end of the third it was 8-0 Johnson City.
While hitting home runs is one way to score runs, only four of Johnson City’s 11 runs were scored via the long ball. The Lady Eagles employ a more contact-based approach at the plate–one that has worked to average 12 runs per game in the district season so far.
“I don’t want them thinking up there in the batter box,” Garcia said. “I’m always like, hey, just put the ball in play, and let’s see what happens.”
Garcia, the first base coach for Johnson City’s offense, has another strategy for keeping the team playing loose and promoting contact hitting. He brings a bag of snacks to first base and hands them out to any Lady Eagle that reaches.
“Get on base, you get a snack,” Garcia said. “I saw Oklahoma doing that and I thought that’d be a great idea to get them motivated.”
The contact-first hitting philosophy and the morale boost from the extra rewards for reaching base have had a great impact on the team. In district play, Johnson City has recorded a team on-basepercentage of .478.
“This team is really good when we play loose,” Garcia said. “That’s what we need to be doing going forward.”
Crownover started the game in the pitching circle and earned the win for Johnson City. She tossed four innings of one-run ball, while walking two and giving up five hits. Davis took over in the fifth inning and closed out the game with two shutout innings. She walked two but didn’t give up a hit.
Haley drove in a teamhigh three runs in the game, and junior Sarah Kuvet’s three walks were Johnson City’s most. The team’s 13 hits came from eight different batters.
The March 11 game against Goldthwaite was the only game of the week for Johnson City. The Lady Eagles will finish the series against Goldthwaite on the road March 18. After that, Johnson City travels to Mason March 21 and hosts the Lady Punchers March 25.
