Sports
BCS Wins Softball Championship With Coach in Hospital
Bradenton Christian defeated Hernando Christian 7-1 on Thursday to win the Class 1A-District 8 title with its coach, Gene Brown, recovering from surgery.
Bradenton Christian softball coach Gene Brown could not be there to see it, to wave base-runners and shout instructions.
He was confined to a hospital bed at on Thursday, recovering from surgery to repair his twisted small intestine.
Brown's daughter Rachel, meanwhile, was going 4-for-4 with a double as host BCS won the Class 1A-District 8 championship 7-1 over Hernando Christian.
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Panthers pitcher Hailey Dearlove threw a no-hitter and was 2-for-3 with two doubles.
Hernando (25-1) lost for the first time this season as BCS (13-8) pounded out 12 hits.
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Brown was able to receive updates on his cell phone from friends and family. He checked into the Blake emergency room Tuesday night following Bradenton Christian's 7-6, nine-inning semifinal victory over Seffner Christian.
“I'm just so proud,” Brown said from his hospital bed telephone after his team's championship win. “I'm on top of the world.”
Brown's daughter blasted an RBI double in the first inning and added three singles. She said she was able to remain focused. While her hits helped BCS take a 7-0 lead at the field on 43rd Street West, her motivation was in a bed at the hospital on 59th Street West.
“I was playing for (dad),” Rachel said. “I know he was dying to be here.”
Following their championship win, the BCS players signed a softball for their coach, then headed to Blake to deliver him the ball and championship trophy.
“We're all a big family,” Rachel said. “We wanted to play for him.”
Dearlove pitched all six innings, striking out nine.
“I don't know what it was,” Dearlove said about her no-hit performance. “They were tough. Even when we were up five or six they never gave up.”
Coach Brown, meanwhile, has been consuming only ice chips and I.V. fluids since his surgery. A tube runs from his nose to his intestine. He expects to be out of the hospital Sunday or Monday.
He will leave a district champion.
Hernando Christian 000 010 0 — 1 0 3
Bradenton Christian 212 011 x — 7 12 5
W — Dearlove. L — Thompson. 2B - Dearlove (BCS) 2, Brown (BCS).
