EAST MANATEE — His team a year removed from winning a district championships, Braden River softball coach Doug Powell wanted to ratchet things up a bit.
He scheduled Manatee and Venice twice. He scheduled Sarasota. He scheduled Riverview.
Thus far, his Pirates have stepped up to the challenge, and did so again Tuesday, defeating Manatee 3-0 in a non-district affair.
The win gave Braden River a two-game sweep over the Hurricanes.
“We’re doing well,” said Powell. “We’re not scoring as many runs as I would like, but the pitching and defense have been outstanding.”
Powell feels he has one of the best pitching staffs in the county, and Trisha Zuknick, Hannah Loyer and Courtney Mirabella gave him no reason to think otherwise Tuesday.
The trio limited Manatee to one hit and four walks while striking out eight.
“Good pitching stops good hitting,” said Hurricanes coach John Carlock, “or any kind of hitting.”
And the pitching was good. Zuknick, a senior, went the first three before Loyer pitched the middle three, and Mirabella closed it out in the seventh.
Initially, Powell hoped to give Mirabella two innings. But Loyer’s performance changed his mind.
“She pitched so well,” he said of the freshman, who struck out seven and walked one. “It’s her first year of high school ball, and I wanted to get her some experience against a good team. And Manatee is a good team.”
The Pirates (10-2) scored all their runs in the first inning on run-scoring singles by Loyer and Mirabella, and the final one when Jessica Cadorette walked with the bases loaded.
That was enough to stifle the Hurricanes (7-5), whose lone hit was a third-inning single by Kristina Holmes.
“We tried a lot of different things — smallball, bunting, slapping. They did a pretty good job getting the big outs when they needed them. You tip your cap and move,” Carlock said. “This is the kind of pitching we’re probably going to get to see as the year goes on, and we have to learn how to put balls like that into play.”
Braden River returns to action at 7 p.m. Friday when the Pirates head to Sarasota.
Manatee hosts Bayshore at 7 p.m. Thursday at G.T. Bray.
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