Delanie Gourley's Survival Instincts:
www.gatorzone.com/story.php?id=30740OKLAHOMA CITY -- She was a pitcher who hadn’t pitched in 24 days, her softball time during this eight-game NCAA Tournament run relegated to bullpen sessions and cheering for her Florida teammates from the dugout. That’s it. Delanie Gourley, though, was told over and over -- by her coach, by her senior teammates -- that she had to be ready; that the Gators were going to need her.
Turned out, they were right.
And it just so happened to be the seventh inning of a one-run game against third-seeded Michigan, winner of 28 straight, in Game 1 of the Women’s College World Series.
“It was a big-time pressure situation,” Gourley, the California sophomore, said Monday night. “But they prepared us every game.”
Tim Walton and his assistants are excellent softball coaches, but there’s only so much they can do to simulate the stress of the WCWS. Yes, Gourley pitched here last year in very difficult circumstances, actually earning the win in two innings of middle relief in Florida’s national-championship clinching game against Alabama.
So what made Gourley shake off the rust and bear down through a runners-on-the-corners, no-out situation to close out a dramatic 3-2 victory over the Wolverines?
In the Florida bleachers along the third base line, Denise Gourley watched, but did not angst.
“The thing with Delanie, pressure is where her mental game just seems to surpass her physical game sometimes,” mother said of daughter. “She learned that toughness, I think, by seeing what I went through.”
Denise actually took the field for a few minutes Monday. It was Strikeout Cancer Night at the WCWS. Pink was out in full force, as were cancer survivors like Denise, now 46 and mere days away from being five years cancer-free.
After the third inning, cancer survivors at Hall of Fame Stadium were invited on the field. Several players on both teams had relatives in the march as the crowd of more than 8,000 cheered.
Denise and Delanie embraced in right field.
“It’s so special,” the younger Gourley said. “I don’t even know to explain that, really.”
Her mother did afterward.
Denise was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 40. Seven months of chemotherapy, one week off, then five months of daily radiation. She lost her hair, but not her hope.
“I never wanted my kids to see me down, to see me sick,” said the mother of two. “I never hid how I was feeling, what the chemo was doing to me. We were very open about it all and grew closer. My children, Delanie and [son] Dalton, they were my rocks.”
Maybe so, but clearly Denise’s survival instincts were passed down a generation.
It showed Monday.
Gourley got the call in the seventh, one inning after freshman Alishia Ocasio, who’d also been shelved for a lengthy period (17 days) while senior Lauren Haeger threw 52 consecutive innings and won seven games, including three at the WCWS. Ocasio was solid for five innings and had a 3-0 lead, thanks to three RBI from Haeger, until Michigan scored twice in the sixth and Walton looked to Gourley.
Again, she had not pitched in three and half weeks.
“I have a lot of confidence in our pitching and our defense,” Walton said.
Gourley, understandably, was shaky at first. As [tough] luck would have it, the first batter she faced was Sierra Romero, a runner-up to Haeger for NCAA Player of the Year and one of the nation’s best power hitters with 22 homers and 82 RBI. Gourley walked her on seven pitches, putting the tying run at first. Two pitches later, a passed ball throw to Kelly Christner got the tying run to second. Christner then singled to right, moving the tying run in Romero to third and putting the go-ahead at first.
No outs.
Welcome back to the fray, young lady.
Yet, Gourley was fine.
“I think having the experience from last year, it really carried over to this year,” she said. “There's a ton of people watching, and it just made it that much easier to know that I've been there before, and I could help my team in any way I could.”
Both helped each other.
Clean-up hitter Kelsey Susalla hit a hard grounder to shortstop Kathlyn Medina, who scooped it, stepped on second for a force and fired to first to try for a double play. Medina's throw didn’t get Susalla, but Romero -- despite her coach telling her to score -- played it safe and remained at third.
“When you hesitate, you can’t go,” Michigan coach Carol Hutchins said. “She made that decision and that’s the way it is.”
And it was an even bigger play when Gourley followed with a strikeout of Lauren Sweet. Two down.
On the very next pitch, Lindsay Montemarano grounded to short to end the game.
Delaney Gourley was mobbed by her teammates after thwarting the heart of the Wolverines order.
Denise Gourley, from her bleacher spot watched, cheered and even got a little choked up.
“I have chills talking to you right now,” she said. “I’m just so blessed to see her out there, just so blessed to have been here to see this."
And share it.
It was a night (and a hug) neither will ever forget.
