Double Diamonds: A Look Ahead At Gaither High's Baseball and Softball Teams

The weather is warming up and the days of spring are upon us.

It's time for the sounds of cracking leather and pinging aluminum. That's right. It’s baseball season.

Both Boys Baseball and Girls Softball are storied programs at Gaither. Both will rely on younger players to step into leading roles. And, both have their eyes on winning the district.

Patch took a look at two teams at Gaither to provide a spring sports preview.

Check it out:

Baseball:

The Gaither baseball team lost not only their four top hitters, but almost all of their
infield. Only three juniors have returned for their senior season with the team.

“ Our style is definitely gonna have to be different this year,” said coach Frank Permuy. "We’ re not gonna have the power hitting. We’ re gonna have to rely more on small ball. We like to run and we will have to take advantage of other team’s mistakes.”

Permuy is the alpha and omega when it comes to Gaither baseball. He is the only coach in the program’ s 24-year history, and if anyone can salvage a season with a young, inexperienced team, it’s Permuy.

Permuy will use a pitching by committee rotation.

Junior Eric Collier and senior Zach Jackson have done well in their six innings of work. Collier has not allowed an earned run, and has punched out 10 batters to one walk.

Jackson has not emerged as a strikeout pitcher, but has a 1.17 ERA. Collier and Jackson seem to be emerging as the No. 1 and No. 2 pitchers.

Permuy will look to junior first-baseman Jose Gonzalez to provide some offense.

Gonzalez knocked the first home run of the season in a February 18 loss to Freedom. He is currently posting a .444 batting average, and has scored three runs.

Senior catcher Tyler Siegel and senior captain Alejandro Brunet need to pick up their offensive production if Gaither wants to compete in districts.

They are 1-1 on the year so far, with key upcoming games at King on February 25, and a re-match against Freedom on March 22.

"King is probably the favorite in the district. The county (Hillsborough) is really tough,” said Permuy.

Despite the competition, Permuy is optimistic about his team's abilities.

“We’ re not counting us out," he said. "We’ ve done it before, and we can do it again.”

Softball:

The Girls softball team won District 9 last year, but the graduation of the McGrath sisters left vacancies on offense and defense.

"We’ d like to repeat as district champs this year," said Coach Jerry Murray, "(but) we’ ll just have to do it differently."

The McGrath sisters, Kristen and Megan, were the core of the team. They finished last year with the first and second best batting averages on the team, most hits and most RBIs. They were also the No. 1 and No. 2 pitchers on the team.

Stepping into the offensive void is Morgan Litchfield.

Morgan is a junior first-baseman, and is leading the team in hitting.

Although they've only played five games, her batting average is .750. Her 12
hits and 12 RBIs over five games are best in the district. In fact, Litchfield leads District 9 in: batting average (.750), home runs (3), slugging percentage (1.688), RBIs (12), and on-base percentage (.778).

Junior Alexis Mallow is trying to pick up the slack in the pitching department.

Her 5.55 ERA is nothing to brag about, but she has punched out 22 batters in 29 innings of work this year. The burden is squarely on her shoulders to keep opposing run totals down.

Junior Lena Rovellada is the legs of the team. Aside from having a perfect fielding
percentage, her .462 batting average is nothing to scoff at. She has the third best on-
base percentage in the district (.556) and has three times the stolen bases of any other player in the district (6).

The key to the Lady Cowboy's success?

“We just need to maintain our pitching and play good in-field defense," Murray said. "We have a ton of bats (this year).”

The Lady Cowboys are 2-3 so far, but they are 2-1 in District 9.

Some key upcoming games for them fall on March 4, where they will travel to take on rival Chamberlain, and March 8, when Sickles comes to Gaither.

Stay in touch with Gaither baseball and softball on Carrollwood Patch.