ORANGE PARK - The Oakleaf Lady Knights needed four innings to figure out the pitching of the visiting First Coast Buccaneers. Once the puzzle pieces lined up, the bats came to life and the Knights (14-2) would use the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to rack up eight runs, while their defense would hold the Bucs off, not allowing a single run in the 8-0 district 2-8A win. The Lady Knights have eight shutout wins in their last 10 games with wins of 8-2 and 6-1 over Bartram Trail and Aucilla Christian the only teams lately able to cross home plate.

“As always, that (defense) is one of the things I love about this team is they take the pressure off our pitchers,” said Oakleaf coach Christina Thompson. “They allow them to mix more pitches and throw the things they want to throw because they know they have a good defense behind them.”

First Coast tried Oakleaf early, getting two runners on base in their first at bats. Oakleaf flexed their defensive muscle behind pitcher Madi Davis and held the Bucs off. Oakleaf needed time to find the weakness in the Bucs pitching, going four innings before getting a player across home plate.

“The Berry kid (First Coach Pitcher Caitlyn Berry) is a very good pitcher,” said Thompson. “Our game plan going into this was; if she gets you, then you have to roll with it, let’s make the adjustments at the plate. We moved around a little bit in the box, made the adjustment to the pitches, and that’s when we came alive. She had five strikeouts on us going through the third, and in the fourth inning we clicked and no strikeouts after that.”

In the bottom of the fourth, Rebecca Koskey blasted a shot past third base, earning a standup double. Baylee

Goddard followed right behind her with a shot to left-center field; stand-up double, scoring Koskey. Next was Alex Acevedo’s turn with a driving shot past third base which scored Goddard. Haley Willis took all six pitches to earn a walk putting two on for the Knights. Willis was replaced by pinch runner Jenna Curtis. Madi Davis came to bat next and dropped one into left-center field, scoring Acevedo. Tracey Ferguson followed right behind her with a screamer down the first base line that the Bucs couldn’t get a handle on, driving in Curtis. Mika Garcia stepped into the batter’s box next and pulled off a textbook squeeze play bunt. The sacrifice scored pinch runner Lauren Wexler and gave the Knights a 5-0 lead. First Coast went three up, three out as the game came into the fifth inning.

In the fifth, Rebecca Koskey took advantage of a First Coast miscue at shortstop to get on base. Alex Acevedo came to the plate and scored her second RBI on the afternoon., bringing Koskey around.

In the sixth inning, Oakleaf added two more with scores from Jenna Curtis and Mika Garcia for the 8-0 shutout. Davis finished on the mound for the shutout win.

“That’s the beauty of Madi, she moves around her pitches,” said Thompson. “She can give you velocity and turn it right around and it will fall off the table on a change-up. She is a good little pitcher!”

Oakleaf has West Nassau Tuesday and Thursday they head down to Kissimmee for a three-day tournament.