PREP SOFTBALL: Away from circle, Central Hardin's Cortney Gunning finds plenty to smile about (05/04)

By NATHANIEL BRYAN

Jill Pickett

Central Hardin senior Courtney Gunning smiles as she walks off the field in a game against North Hardin earlier this season.

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nbryan@thenewsenterprise.com CECILIA — Cortney Gunning likes to make people feel better. That’s why the Central Hardin High School first baseman plans on heading to the University of Kentucky after graduation to attend pharmacy school. Or not. “I’m only going to be there for seven years and then I’ll make a lot of money,” Gunning said before laughing. OK, so Gunning does have an ulterior motive. But she did not when she stepped out of the pitcher’s circle this year. Last season, Gunning and fellow classmate Cassandra McCullough saw a majority of the innings pitching-wise for the Lady Bruins. With the development of freshman Kristina Krupinski, Central Hardin coach Mark Martin has used McCullough (9-5) and Krupinski (6-1) in the circle this year. Being taken out of the rotation has been fine for Gunning (0-1, 1 save), who told Martin she felt Krupinski deserved a bigger role. “I felt Kristina had really improved a lot and I felt she could help the team more there (pitching) than I could,” said Gunning, who has pitched only five innings. “I didn’t want anyone to feel like, ‘Oh, Cortney’s a senior. She’s played the most innings and she should get the start.’ I think the best player should play.” That was evident on April 17, when Krupinski pitched a gem of a game to help Central Hardin beat visiting 17th District rival North Hardin, 2-1. Gunning still made her presence felt, delivering a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh to plate pinch runner Victoria Thompson to end the Trojans’ 22-game winning streak against district competition and propel the Lady Bruins into first place in the five-team district. “That was great, because I think the previous two at-bats, the ball went like three feet in front of me,” Gunning said. “I hadn’t hit the ball good at all. I had hit a pop-up right in front of the plate and a little ground ball right in front of the plate. So that hit definitely felt good.” The clutch hit was far from a mirage. Entering the weekend, Gunning was batting .367 – third-best on the team and less than .01 percentage points from putting her among the 10 best in the seven-team area – with 22 hits (21 singles, one triple), eight runs batted in and eight runs scored. “This has definitely been one of my better hitting years. I DHed my eighth-grade year and I don’t know what happened, but I got bad (hitting-wise) there for a couple of years. But I’m improving finally,” she said. “I don’t know what the reason is. I guess it helped that I got off to a good start. That got my confidence up and I’ve been hitting well ever since.” Martin praised Gunning’s play at first base with her soft hands, which helped her during basketball season as she was one of the top 3-point shooters in the area. Although Gunning’s footwork can look suspect at times, Gunning said looks aren’t everything. “I’ve always played first, so I do feel comfortable there. I think that’s one of the reasons that it’s OK that I do look awkward because I’ve been there for so long,” she said. “It might look awkward to someone else, but it’s pretty comfortable to me. I’m pretty used to doing it.” When Gunning’s not using her strong hitting and fielding to help the team, she uses her mouth to keep the team focused at times and to help the Lady Bruins relaxed at others. Martin admits Gunning’s not the most vocal player, but when Gunning does speak, Martin said everyone should listen up. “You’d have to be around some of our games and practices to get Cortney’s full effect,” Martin said. “She’s a hoot to be around. She’s very, very intelligent. … And she’s got an intelligent wit about her. She can come off with some stuff that makes you start laughing hard sometimes. There have been some times I wasn’t in a laughing mood but I couldn’t help but laugh because of something she came up with out of the blue.” It’s certainly a little easier to chuckle when a player is having a season like Gunning is having. Nathaniel Bryan can be reached at 505-1758