The Sonic Drive-In Player-of-the-Game for Thursday, March 8, is Alissa Humphrey of the Gainesville softball team.
Humphrey helped lead the nationally-ranked Hurricanes to a 6-4 win in eight innings at Columbia (Lake City) in a Class 7A-District 3 showdown between the two rivals. The sophomore tossed a 4-hitter and struck out 18 batters for GHS (11-0, 5-0).
Things didn’t look good early for Gainesville, which is ranked No. 1 in the Miracle Sports Class 7A state rankings and 7th nationally by MaxPreps.
Columbia (9-3, 1-1) took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI single by junior Dara Gaylard. They extended the lead to 3-0 on a 2-out, 2-run error in the second inning.
However, senior Olivia Hanson led off the fourth with a double and came home on a wild pitch to make it 3-1.
Humphrey (10-0) was at her best during the middle innings, striking out 12 of 15 Tigers at one point. The JU commit now has 146 K’s in 65.2 innings of work.
The ‘Canes got clutch hitting in the comeback win.
In the sixth, Hanson hit her second double, and with the tying run at the plate, senior Hallie Karas crushed a pitch from Cris’Deona Beasley (11 strikeouts) over the left field fence to tie the game at 3-3.
Hanson and Karas were intentionally walked in the eighth, and following an error, freshman Briana Boggs cleared the bases with a double to the gap in right center for a 6-3 lead.
After giving up a solo HR to junior Story Giebeig in the bottom of the 8th, and with the tying run at the plate, Humphrey struck out the final two batters to end the game.
Columbia will travel to Buchholz (Gainesville) on Monday, while Gainesville is at Class 5A No. 4 Keystone Heights.
Every game The Prep Zone will recognize a Player-of-the-Game. The recipient receives a $10 gift certificate courtesy of Sonic Drive-In of Gainesville & Ocala.
