All afternoon long during the Class 2A Beecher Regional final, Ava Olson was in the right place at the right time.
The Bobcats senior shortstop helped nail down a 3-1 win over Wilmington on May 23, spearing a line drive and doubling off a Wildcats runner in the top of the seventh before fielding a grounder and throwing to first for the final out.
Before that, she drove in all three runs for the Bobcats from the cleanup spot. Her sacrifice fly to left and her groundout to second drove in winning pitcher Ava Lorenzatti in the first and third innings, respectively. Then her bunt single in the fifth scored a hustling Elena Kvasnicka all the way from second base.
That, plus another stellar mound effort by Lorenzatti, helped Beecher (32-2) win its third straight regional title and 10th since 2014.
Lorenzatti (17-1) lowered her ERA to 1.15, allowing three hits and striking out 12.
The late liner to Olson could have been tricky.
“I had struggled earlier in the season, for some reason, catching line drives right at me,” she said. “When I saw it, I was like, ‘This is the one.’ And then I threw it to my second baseman Elena, who I’ve been playing with since I was, like, 9. I was (thinking), ‘She’s got this. She’s long. She can get a double play easy.’
“So I had a lot of confidence going in there.”
Ditto when Olson is at the plate, which is apparent from her stats through last week: a .453 batting average, 33 runs, 37 RBIs and 12 extra-base hits in 34 games,
“Coach (Kevin Hayhurst) focuses a lot on hitting down on the ball so that (opponents) have more of a chance of making an error or it’s harder to make a play,” Olson said. “So when I’m thinking (hitting it) down on the ground or just get it to the (outfield), I can get that runner from third to home easy.”
Hayhurst appreciates all that Olson brings to the table.
“She’s just a great player to have on your team,” he said. “Just appreciate all the little things that she does that you’re coaching — the mental things she does, baserunning. She does a little bit of everything for us.”
The variety of ways Olson drove in runs makes her a tough out.
“She’s got all kinds of weapons when she’s batting,” Hayhurst said.
So does Lorenzatti when she’s pitching.
“She’s really got her velocity here at the end of the season,” Hayhurst said. “The ball’s starting to move even better.”