Gallery by Heather Belcher
There is not much arguing the fact that the hottest area team on the softball diamond hails from Woodrow Wilson.
One of the key cogs in the current nine-game winning streak for the Flying Eagles has been third baseman Kayla Bird.
The big-hitting senior wreaked even more havoc Wednesday night against Greenbrier West.
Driving in six runs, Bird helped power the Flying Eagles past the Cavaliers 13-4 in five innings in Beckley for their ninth win in a row.
“The biggest difference I see this year is that we are hitting. We have had the pitching before, but we haven’t hit,” Woodrow Wilson head coach Pan Davis said. “I have seen that this year with some of the area teams. It comes down to who is going to hit the most.”
Early on it was the visitors that were hitting the ball, taking advantage of some control issues from Woodrow starter Taylor Scott.
After fanning the first batter, Scott issued a pair of walks followed by an infield single to load the bases.
Brooke Nutter scored on a passed ball, but the young sophomore appeared poised to escape the early jam after recording her second strikeout of the inning.
Julia Herndon had other ideas, driving in the other two runners with a solid double to give West a 3-0 lead.
Woodrow Wilson was unphased and answered quickly in its first trip to the plate.
A pair of singles and an error in left field loaded the bases for Bird who hit a double scoring all aboard to tie the game.
“My history with the bases loaded before this year has not been good. I usually (hit) a soft liner back to the pitcher. This year I hit my first ever grand slam at Princeton,” Bird said. “I was thinking hit something hard and score a run. We were down three and we needed some runs. If it was a sac fly, so be it.”
Another fielding error by the Cavaliers allowed Bird to score and eventually led to the fifth run of the opening inning for Woodrow.
“I thought we did good job hitting in the first inning and getting three runs across,” Greenbrier West head coach Tony Hinkle said. “Our defense has been playing really well, so to give up a couple of errors and let them get the lead back was tough.”
The Flying Eagles picked up where they left off in the second inning scoring five more runs with the big blow coming on a double from Aubrey Smallwood that scored two runs.
After her first-inning struggles, Scott settled in nicely allowing just one run over the final four innings and striking out nine batters in the win.
“She had a little trouble there in the first inning. The nerves kind of got her, but overall she is confident,” Davis said. “She is a little different than Aubrey. She has a nice little change up and I love it.”
Bird all but sealed the game in the third inning after Smallwood and Ava Mullins got aboard on back-to-back singles.
Riding a 2-0 pitch, Bird blasted a bomb over the left-field fence for a three-run home run, her sixth of the season.
“They missed outside (twice), so I thought they were probably coming inside. I was already pretty early, so I wanted to sit back and get my hands threw the ball,” Bird said.
Bird’s night was something that both coaches could appreciate.
“Kayla has been a good little ball player ever since she was a freshman. I am very proud of her and happy for her,” Davis said. “She is going to go on to the next level and hopefully she will do well.”
“That is good team and that senior at third base, she is a really good hitter. I threw her about everything both pitchers had,” Hinkle said. “She is not only a good hitter, she is a good person. They have a good team and they deserve it. They have had some rough years.”
Hinkle was also proud of his squad which has battled illness and injuries all season.
“I was proud of them. I thought we had some good at-bats. We tried to layoff the rise ball, but the changeup got us on a few tonight,” Hinkle said. “For a young team, I thought we handled ourselves good at the plate. Our defense just didn’t play very well.”
GW: 300 010 – 4
WW: 553 0x – 13
WP: Taylor Scott; LP: Kyndall Taylor.
Hitting – GW: Brooke Patterson 1-3 (rbi), Desteney Walker 2-3, Julia Herndon 1-3 (2b, 2 rbi); WW: Natalia Meade 2-4, Aubrey Smallwood 3-3 (2b, 2 rbi); Ava Mullins 1-3 (rbi), Kayla Bird 3-3 (HR, 2b, 6 rbi), Brooklyn Bird 1-3, Taylor McDaniel (rbi), Taylor Scott (rbi), Presley Bailey 1-2.
