PALMETTO — They had been off for a week. Not long on the calendar, an eternity on the schedule for a team that entered postseason play as hot as could be.
With a first-round bye in the Class 4A-District 10 touranment and plenty of time on his players’ hands, Braden River softball coach Doug Powell was understandably nervous about the layoff.
“We took it a little bit easy,” Powell said. “We needed the downtime; it was good to get a breather, because the season has been a bit of a grind. It picked them up. We had a lot of inspirational talks, anything we could to get their minds where they should be.”
Inspirational talks? Like Powell had to waste his breath. Here’s all he had to say to get the Pirates in the mood for Thursday night’s semifinal with host Palmetto:
We’re playing Palmetto.
Trisha Zuknick is pitching.
Any questions?
There certainly weren’t any questions about Braden River’s district dominance after Thursday’s 9-1 victory, a win that sends the Pirates (20-5) into tonight’s 7 p.m. championship against Sebring at Palmetto.
The Pirates went 12-0 against district foes this season, including 4-0 and 15-0 wins over the Tigers (13-13). Zuknick, a junior who transferred from Cardinal Mooney to face tougher competition, has been a driving force on the season’s joyride, and against Palmetto she’s been especially fierce.
“Every time we play them, I don’t know what it is, my curveball just seems to work,” she said. “I get the outside part of the plate with it.
At first, it felt like it wasn’t going to be my night. The ball seemed to be dying, dropping too much. But having confidence that I had done it against them before, that helped me tonight.”
Hard to say what game Zuknick was watching, because she didn’t seem to struggle early, late or anywhere in between, striking out nine in five innings, coming within about three inches of a no-hitter.
Three inches: About the width of the left-field chalk, which is where the only hit she surrendered, a fourth-inning leadoff single by Taylor Carlton, landed.
Otherwise, Zuknick was perfect, and when she delivered a two-run double during a four-run fifth that broke the game open, she finally gave Powell the cushion he needed to replace her with Hunter Elling, saving some of that arm for tonight’s game.
“That was the whole goal; I wanted to get her out earlier, but the bats didn’t wake up until later. She’ll be ready.”
And that may be all the pep talk the Pirates need.
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