BAKER — Five hits and two runs were more than enough for the Baker School softball team Monday as the Gators beat Gulf Breeze 2-0.
Senior pitcher Macie Wilde did it in the circle and at the plate in helping lead the Gators (12-5) to victory.
Wilde limited the Dolphins to just two hits will striking out seven Gulf Breeze batters and walking three.
She also had what turned out to be the game-winning hit in the third inning when she doubled in Ashley Black with the game’s first score. Black had reached on a double of her own to start the Baker third.
Wilde also scored the other Gator run when Holly Stanley doubled with two outs in the third.
Wilde started out slowly walking two batters in the first inning. She also had a rare wild pitch. But once she settled down the Dolphins struggled to reach base.
Wilde retired 11 straight Gulf Breeze batters from the first inning until giving up a one-out walk in the fifth.
The Dolphins finally got a hit with two outs in the sixth inning and added one more in the seventh.
Baker coach John Carlisle was pleased with the way Wilde shook off the rough start.
“Macie didn’t start out very well,” he said. “She kind of got into a groove in the middle innings. She pitched five-and- two-thirds of no-hit ball which is good.
“When she gets in a groove she’s got no-hit stuff. She got some ground ball pitches when she needed to and she’s been making some good pitches and not necessarily had to strike out everybody.”
The Gators didn’t exactly light up Gulf Breeze pitcher Sydney Ezelle, but they made most of their hits count.
Kaitlan Godwin had a one-out single in the Baker second for the first hit of the game. The Gators then put together the doubles by Black, Wilde and Stanley to score the only runs of the game.
Stanley had the other Baker hit, a single to lead off the Gator sixth inning.
“Offensively we had an off night,” Carlisle said. “We put a lot of balls up in the air, but our last five or six games we’ve been tearing the cover off the ball and people have been stroking it. To still come out with a win tonight, I’m happy with that.”
Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Email him at randyd@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @BigRandle, or call 682-6524
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Baker shuts down Gulf Breeze