Gallery by Greg Barnett
Princeton – Lightning struck twice for Princeton and three times for Preslee Treadway on Friday.
A day after watching Beckley pitcher Aubrey Smallwood swat two home runs ands strike out 17 batters, Princeton fell victim to another outstanding performance as Greenbrier West all-stater Preslee Treadway crushed three home runs, guiding the Cavaliers to a 10-2 victory over the Tigers in five innings at Princeton.
It was a welcome change for Treadway.
Coming into Friday’s contest she had only four hits on the season, sporting a .182 batting average. Her struggles at the plate led to a drop from third in the lineup to seventh. She responded with the best outing of her career.
“I was just thinking about what my coach told me to do,” Treadway said. “And I really was overthinking everything and told myself to just hit the ball in front of me. I’ve been letting it get too deep and I was really just focusing on that one thing to do it and I did it.”
Having scored just one run in its last two games, West’s offense capitalized from the jump.
A one-out double from cleanup hitter Maddie Fields scored Hannah Sweet and Julia Herndon in the top of the first with Kyndall Taylor driving home Fields with a single. An error on a single later plated Taylor, bringing Treadway to the plate.
She blasted the pitched over the fence in left-center, giving West a 5-0 advantage before Princeton even stepped to the plate.
“Well, the first five games I think we were averaging about 17 runs a game,” West head coach Tony Hinkle said. The last two games, we had one run in two games and we’ve really been struggling. And Preslee has been one that’s been struggling. She really come out tonight but she’s worked hard over the last week, week-and-a-half and she looks more like she did last year. She struggled and we’ve got another one struggling there too, but a lot of good at bats there.”
Princeton’s offense meanwhile struggled. The Tigers sent just one batter above the minimum to the plate through three innings and put the ball in play but a night after West committed seven errors to allow seven runs on three hits, it turned in a perfect performance in the field to post a zero in the error column.
“After the Bluefield game, we got in the cage and really worked on contact,” Princeton head coach Craig Johnson said. “I think we put the bat on the ball better tonight. We got some hits. Zoey hit really well, Hayden hit really well so we’re gonna get better.”
“Zero earned runs the last two games and we lost both games,” Hinkle said. “And yeah, the defense, we had a long talk last night. And they seemed more upbeat today and come out really more into the game. Communication is a big thing. And that’s what we’ve been working on a lot. Because we struggled with that the first part of the year. We’ve got a lot of young players that are afraid to speak up and we got little freshman at second base and she’s gonna be a good one.”
An RBI single from Herndon in the second inning and Treadway’s second dinger extended the West lead to 7-0 through three innings.
In the bottom of the fourth Princeton’s offensive finally woke up.
A solo blast from Zoey Agnew got the hosts on the board and they proceeded to load the bases in a comeback bid but a strikeout from West hurler Brilee Redden diffused the threat.
Three more West runs in the top of the fifth, the final two courtesy of Treadway’s two-run dinger, put the mercy rule in effect.
As they did in the previous inning, the Tigers scratched out a run, this time on a fielder’s choice, and loaded the bases with a chance to extend the game and chip away. But Treadway did the closing honors, scooping a grounder and firing to first to end the game.
“Even yesterday (Redden) walked a few and maybe hit a batter but she battled through,” Hinkle said. “She’ll start trying to place the ball she’s just got to remember to trust her mechanics and everything works out. And that’s what she did there after I went out she just trusted her mechanics.”
For Treadway it was a career night.
“I’ve never hit that many in game,” Treadway smiled. “It’s the first time.”
“She had a special night,” Johnson said. “She played really well. I don’t know, when somebody hits like that. It don’t matter and there’s just not much you can do unless you walk her. She just had a special night that not many kids have.”
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94
