Gallery by Greg Barnett
Princeton – Shady Spring head coach Nikki Mays was hoping to evenly split pitching duties Monday and get a feel for who to toss later in the week against a pair of sectional foes.
She has a good idea of what the answer is even if the path to figuring it out was a painful one.
Princeton erupted for five runs in the opening frame and worked out of numerous jams throughout the duration of Monday’s home contest against Shady, picking up a 6-2 win against the visiting Tigers.
After a rough first inning inning Mays went to ace Avary Bragg and she limited the home-standing Tigers to just one hit and one run over the final five innings of the game but Shady never recovered from the opening blow.
Making matters worse, Shady had opportunities but struggled to capitalize, stranding 11 runners including seven in the final two innings.
“Sometimes I feel like I’m a little more aggressive than what they’re used to and they second guess themselves a lot,” Mays said. “They don’t realize it’s on me if it goes wrong if they do what I say.”
To Princeton’s credit pitcher Emma Johnson worked out of every jam to quell Shady’s uprising, even helping her own cause along the way. She didn’t allow a run until the fifth inning with it scoring after her errant force attempt at the plate was mishandled.
She got it back on her own in the bottom of the fifth, leading off with a solo home run.
“That’s part of her maturity,” Princeton head coach Craig Johnson said. “She’s an 11th grader and doesn’t get rattled in those situations. Nobody on or with somebody on, we’re still trying to get mis-hits. We want strikeouts but if we’re getting ground balls and outs and mis-hits that’s what we want and that’s what we got with runners on.”
Johnson was afforded the luxury of lead when her teammates came out swinging in the first.
Riley Riggs opened the bottom of the first with a double, advancing to third on an error and scoring on a Zoey Agnew’s fielder’s choice. Abigail Jenkins followed with the big blow, swatting a two-run home run over the fence in left. The nightmare continued for Shady pitcher Raegan Lane as she followed up by walking Johnson before inducing a flyout for her first out.
The breather lasted momentarily as the next three batters reached on an error and back to back singles with Peyton Agnew and Riggs, batting for the second time in the inning, picking up RBIs. Before the visiting Tigers got back to the plate in the second they were tasked with climbing out of a 5-0 hole.
“Raegan’s been struggling with a couple pitches so we were limited with some pitches with her,” Mays said. “But we wanted to try and start with her and come in with Avary later on but unfortunately we had to bring (Bragg) in a little sooner than we planned.”
“(Hitting) is something we’ve been working on a whole lot but we’ve struggled with it off and on,” Johnson said. “Our pitching and defense have been really good but I was happy to see us come out in the first inning and see us hit the ball like we did. If we hit the ball we’re a good team.”
The bats slowed for the host Tigers the rest of the way with Johnson’s home run serving as the only Princeton hit after the first inning in large part due to Bragg’s efficiency in the circle, one of the positives for Shady.
It gave Mays an idea of where to go later in the week with a pair of sectional matchups against Independence and Liberty on deck for Thursday and Friday, respectively.
“We wanted to see who could come out here and do it today so we know who to go with in a couple of days,” Mays said.
Princeton will aim to carry the momentum throughout the week with challenging games against Greenbrier East and Man on the slate.
