Mustangs sweep doubleheader in Gainesville
GAINESVILLE – A chance to see both their daughters start Southeastern Conference play and their high school team play against top statewide competition the same day was too much to pass up for both Lakewood Ranch coach TJ Goelz and Gainesville coach Chris Chronister.
The two talked during a fall Gator softball scrimmage about the potential weekend matchup and set up their third-weekend matchup after the second one was canceled last year due to COVID.
Kinsey and Avery Goelz along with Katie Chronister all play for the No. 5 University of Florida (17-1) softball team, allowing both dads the chance to see them play this weekend against Kentucky.
TJ Goelz took his No. 1 ranked Mustangs to watch the Gators play Saturday afternoon before the Mustangs played a doubleheader against No. 1 in Class 2A Jacksonville Trinity Christian and host Class 5A receiving votes Gainesville.
“We’re a big softball family, we would spend Sundays when they were little shagging balls, hitting fungos, and pitching,” Goelz said. “If we weren’t doing fundamentals we were watching games on the SEC Network and now I’m watching them live.”
Kinsey and Avery watched their former team and father sweep both Ocala Trinity Christian 14-4 six 6 innings and Gainesville 13-3 in five innings Saturday night.
“I knew my mom and dad were coming to the Florida softball game as soon as UF released their schedule,” Kinsey Goelz said. “I just think it's so cool my dad was able to coordinate for Lakewood Ranch to play both Trinity Christian and Gainesville High at Gainesville and for him to be able to see my sister and I play.”
A stunning 2-1 loss to Miami Doral Academy Friday night at home, a rare home loss may have lit up the Mustangs on Saturday.
“We took one in the mouth Friday night and I’m glad we did that was our first home loss in four years, “ Goelz said. The girls spoke up after the game and I spent all night trying to figure out what we could have done better. I told them to not look in the rearview mirror and let's work even harder.”
They responded quite well with 27 hits and 27 runs in the doubleheader sweep.
In game one, the Mustangs trailed 2-0 in the first inning before answering in the bottom of the inning with a three-spot, thanks to a 2-run home run from Colgate signee Jillian Herbst, which tied the game at 2-all. A successful double steal allowed Ella Coiner to score to give the Mustangs their first lead of the game at 3-2.
Coiner two-RBI single an inning later increased the lead to 5-2 in the second inning.
A six-run fourth put the game away as the Mustangs sent 12 batters to the plate thanks to an RBI single from Coiner, Callie Bua RBI single, Grace Hoagie two-RBI single and Cassidy McLellan two-RBI double off the centerfield wall.
Ahead 11-4 in the bottom of the sixth, the Mustangs put it away scoring three runs loading the bases with no outs. A passed ball and a two-RBI double to left-center from Coiner ended the game.
After a 20 minute break, the Mustangs carried it over into the second game against the host Hurricanes.
Herbst tripled down the first base line, Coiner followed with an RBI single past short, Vogel tripled to right and Hoagie’s two-run shot over the left-centerfield wall gave the Mustangs a 4-0 lead.
They continued with a four-run second behind McLellan RBI single, Hoagie RBI single up the middle and Herbst RBI grounder for an 8-0 lead.
McLellan RBI single scored Grace Shaw, and the Mustangs added their 10th run on a pickle play.
Ahead 10-1 in the fifth, they added three more runs loading the bases, scoring off an error, fielder choice and Taylor Sheppard RBI single past short.
With starting pitcher Olivia Laney out of the game in the sixth, the Hurricanes scored two runs off reliever Peyton Knight before Knight induced a double play to end the game.
“We wanted to come here and play good competition and both Trinity Christian and Gainesville are well-coached teams,” Goelz added. “I wanted to see how they would respond after the loss last night and the girls responded well today.”
After taking nearly two weeks off, Lakewood Ranch (11-1) plays host to Wauchula Hardee County on March 25 in its next game.