GREEN COVE SPRINGS - In a battle of historic rivals in Clay County, Oakleaf High’s newest addition of softball, led by new coach Heather Han plus a homer and base-clearing triple from senior Khloe Banks, introduced itself to the area via an 18-3 bombshelling of Clay High School at Clay High School.

“I consider that a good team win with two girls playing off the bench and Charlie Maddox, a freshman pitcher, throwing a ton of strikes,” said Han, now 2-1. “We push to score run with our speed and force the other team to make mistakes.”

The unfortunate recipient of the Oakleaf batting prowess, Clay pitcher Gabbi Ellis, saw what could be the reminiscence of Oakleaf High softball days of a power batting lineup.

“Those three in our lineup; Meshayla Pettaway, Khloe Banks and Ciara Gibson can hit and are fast around the bases,” said Han. “That makes the defense move just a little bit faster than they might want to.”

The followup to the front trio; junior Mariyah Sanchez, added five runs batted in with four hits; one a triple, on six trips to home plate. Banks finished with five runs batted in also as Oakleaf totaled 16 runs batted in on the night.

“We come in with the mindset of attack the other team,” said Han.

Oakleaf opened with a 4-1 loss to unbeaten 3A-Baldwin before beating University Christian 5-1 on March 3 with the Clay (4-3 now) win putting Oakleaf at 2-1.

“We host our own Tournament of Champions next week then go to Monteverde, then we go to the Kissimmee Klassic,” said Han.