The Key West Lady Conchs varsity softball team climbed to 9-1 for the season with a hard-fought victory over rival Keys Gate Knights from Homestead on March 25 at the Backyard, behind Key West High School.
The Conchs came out on top with a 5-1 win in what turned out to be a pitchers’ duel between
the Conchs’ Chloe Gilday and the Knights’ Maddie Webb.
Gilday retired the first three batters in order in the top of the first inning without a ball leaving the infield.
Webb was up to the challenge in the bottom of the inning, retiring three of the first four Conch batters, with a walk to Bella Perez the lone runner of the inning.
The game remained scoreless in the second inning. Gilday retired the first two Knights’ batters. The third batter walked, but was quickly picked off first base by an on-target throw from catcher Perez to first baseman Madison Gonzalez. Key West promptly went down 1-2-3 in their half of the inning on six pitches by Webb.
Gilday was again sharp in the circle for Key West. She retired three straight Knights batters, with two falling to strikeouts.
Key West broke the scoring drought in the bottom of the third. Dharma Murray led off with a double on a ground ball to right field on a 3-2 pitch. She moved to third on a groundout and
then scored when the first baseman made an errant throw trying to get Murray at third after she made an impressive catch on a hard line drive by Yahaira Williams.
Keys Gate answered right back in the top of the fourth with a run of their own, playing some fundamental softball. Following a single, Keys Gate sacrificed the runner to second, who then scored when the next batter singled to center, making it a 1-1 game.
The Conchs’ big scoring inning came in the bottom of the fourth to respond to the Knights’ run. Ty Cervantes singled on a line drive to right field to lead off the inning. There was an error on a ground ball hit by Gonzalez, then Chloe Knowles got hit by a pitch to load the bases for Murray. Murray was also hit by a pitch, bringing home the second run by the Conchs.
Caroline Smith then hit a sacrifice fly to right field, driving home Gonzalez to make it 3-1. Williams next doubled to left field, scoring Knowles and Murray with the Conchs’ fourth and fifth runs of the game.
Gilday got the first two outs in the top of the fifth before running into trouble. A walk, a hit batter and a single loaded the bases for Keys Gate. But a fielder’s choice left three Knights runners stranded on base. Webb and Gilday both settled down the rest of the game with Key West and Keys Gate each going without a hit. In total, Gilday took the win, striking out eight while surrendering three hits.
Key West next travels to Miami for three games over the weekend. They take on Somerset Academy Silver Palms on Friday, April 1 before traveling to South Dade Senior High for a doubleheader on Saturday, April 3.
Caroline Smith is a junior softball player at Key West High School and the Keys Weekly’s freelance sports reporter.
