JoJo Muldoon rebounds to lead Bayshore Bruins to title
BRADENTON -- JoJo Muldoon rebounded from self-described poor play in recent games, driving in seven runs and scoring three as Bayshore High School defeated Booker, 11-1, in the championship game of the Class 5A-District 11 softball tournament Thursday on the Bruins' home field.
Muldoon struck out twice and drove in a run on a sacrifice bunt in the Bruins' 3-0 semifinal win Tuesday against St. Petersburg Lakewood. But her teammates, coaches and others had her back before the championship game.
Between games, Muldoon watched batting film and saw she was undercutting the ball when she made contact. Then she worked with assistant coach Latece Luther to correct that flaw.
"I wasn't swinging at necessarily bad pitches," Muldoon said. "I was underneath all of them," popping up and fouling back good pitches to hit.
Against the Tornadoes, Muldoon hit a grand slam, a triple and a single, walked and scored the winning run. She credited her teammates for her rebound.
"I knew that I did not perform well at all, lately," she said, "And they have just been so supportive, (saying), 'You've got this.'
"With their support, I was able to break my slump."
"She's been struggling," Bayshore head coach Frank Luther said. Latece Luther and Muldoon worked together "for about an hour before we were supposed to be here, to get her swing better, and it helped her."
Bayshore will play host to Lemon Bay, which lost 5-3 to Arcadia DeSoto County on Thursday in the District 12 final, Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the region quar
terfinal. District runner-up Booker (11-9) will play in Arcadia.
Against Booker, the Bruins won by the 10-run rule with two out in the bottom of the sixth inning. A grounder by Maddy Ramirez scored Muldoon to cap a three-run rally.
Bayshore scored three runs in the first inning, four in the second, one in the fourth and three in the sixth. Muldoon's first-inning triple drove in Miriam Schmoll (single) and Keera Kelly, a courtesy runner for Lashara James, who reached on a bunt single.
Muldoon's grand slam over the left field fence scored Haley Suave (bunt single), Schmoll and James.
Schmoll did not make an out batting in the two district playoff games.
She hit a home run and double and walked against Lakewood and had two singles and a walk and reached base on an error against Booker.
It was Luther's second district championship in his nine years as head coach of the Bruins.
He said the game went like he expected.
"We're the better team," he said. "But we executed what we planned on doing. We executed bunts. We hit the ball when we needed to hit the ball. We got a big hit out of JoJo, who's been struggling. She broke out big tonight, which is what we needed."
This story was originally published April 14, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "JoJo Muldoon rebounds to lead Bayshore Bruins to title ."