Two Greene seniors at separate times this season came up to head varsity softball coach Rick Smith to give their opinion of freshman pitcher Rebecca Hanrahan. In a nutshell, they told Smith, “coach, she’s good.”
Hanrahan hasn’t merely been good, she has pitched superbly in most games, and has reached the level of sublime more and more frequently.
“She’s one of those kids who just throws and throws, and has made herself a good pitcher,” Smith said. “She plays all year, she attends clinics...she has made herself a good pitcher and she lives the sport.”
Greene opponents should be forewarned: Hanrahan is just a freshman, and that means she will likely get better. Although, her achievements over the last 10 days may be tough to top.
In a 15-0 shutout win over Oxford last week, Hanrahan, threw the first of what will likely be multiple no-hitters over her career. Not just that, she hit for the cycle with a single, double, triple, and a home run. Two astounding individual achievements – in the same game no less.
She pitched Greene to its first tournament title in a doubleheader last Saturday, then set a new school-record for strikeouts in a game Wednesday night in an 11-inning victory over defending MAC Division One champion Sidney. She allowed just one hit and struck out 20.
Hanrahan added a 15-strikeout one-hit victory over Unadilla Valley on Thursday, and is this week’s Evening Sun/Smith Ford LLC Athlete of the Week.
“She’s very easy going, quiet, happy and smiling. She’s a typical freshman off the field,” Smith said. “On the field, she’s not scared of anything.”
If ever there was a time to be scared, it would have came when Greene faced Afton earlier this season. Afton, the defending MAC team champions and Class D state finalists a year ago, returned all but one of its players off that Section IV title team. Leading the Crimson Knights is first-team all-state infielder Jessie Winans, one of the most dangerous hitters in all of Section IV.
Hanrahan allowed a single to Winans early in the game, and Afton’s four hits in the game were the most Hanrahan allowed in any of her team’s nine games. Late in the game, Hanrahan matched up against Winans again. It was a pressure situation and Greene clung to a two-run lead. Hanrahan fanned Winans and Greene prevailed, 4-2.
“That strikeout (of Winans) tipped me off that we have something special here,” Smith said of Hanrahan. “(Winans) is the type of player you measure yourself against. Beating Afton was huge for our program and huge for our kids. (Having Rebecca) is really helping our program and it has already brought us more attention. She’s the type of player you hope you have for her whole high school career.”
As well as Hanrahan is performing now, it’s almost difficult to fathom who good she could be. Smith says, though, individual accomplishments aren’t the bottom line to Hanrahan.
“The first statement I heard she made – not to me – was that she wants to go to BAGSAI and win states,” Smith said. “She just wants the ‘Ws.’”