The Preston Lady Pirate varsity fastpitch softball team punched their ticket to this week’s Class 2A Super Regionals with a 2-1 victory over the Chouteau-Mazie Lady Wildcats.
Preston fastpitch squad punches ticket to Super Regionals with 2-1 victory
The Preston Lady Pirate varsity fastpitch softball team punched their ticket to this week’s Class 2A Super Regionals with a 2-1 victory over the Chouteau-Mazie Lady Wildcats.
The narrow win came in the championship game of the Class 2A, Region 13, regional tournament at the Jim Waller Sports Complex in Preston last Friday afternoon.
The Lady Pirates began their journey to the regional championship last Thursday morning with a 15-0 victory over the Nowata Lady Ironmen in the opening game of the 4-team, double- elimination, tournament. The Preston squad advanced to Friday’s championship game with an 8-0 win over Chouteau-Mazie, who notched a hard-fought 9-6 win over Commerce in last Thursday’s other opening-round contest.
The Lady Pirates are scheduled to host a Best-of-3 Super Regional this Thursday and Friday against an opponent that was to be determined by the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association.
In last Thursday’s opening-round meeting with Nowata, the Preston ladies opened the scoring with 10 runs in the bottom of the first, then added three in the second and two in the third for the 15-0, run-rule, victory.
Emilie Stidman led the way offensively for the Lady Pirates, finishing 3 for 3 with a single, double, triple, and 3 RBIs.
The duo of Taylan Starr (2 for 2, single, double, RBI) and Josie Cope (2 for 3, 2 singles, 2 RBIs) also recorded multi-hit games for Preston against Nowata with two hits apiece. One of Cope’s 2 RBIs came on an RBI sacrifice fly in the second.
The other Preston base hits in the opening contest came on a single by Caris Tecumseh, double by Celeste Pineda, and RBI single by Kinlee Basquez.
Other Lady Pirate baserunners in the run-rule win were Starr (walk, hit by pitch), Pineda (walk), Tecumseh (walk), Kristen Holuby (2 walks, hit by pitch), Na’Braijhanae Phillips (2 walks, hit by pitch), and Mazie Flud (2 hit by pitches). Flud also drove in one of the 10 Preston runs in the first with an RBI sacrifice fly.
Cope gave up one hit with two walks and five strikeouts in three shutout innings of work to earn the pitching win for Preston.
In last Thursday’s winner’s bracket finals battle with Chouteau-Mazie, the Lady Pirates broke a scoreless tie with five runs in the bottom of the second. The Preston squad added a run in the fourth and two more in the fifth for an 8-run advantage.
The Lady Pirate defense kept the Lady Wildcats off the scoreboard in the final two frames to walk away with their second shutout win of the regional tournament, 8-0.
Kristen Holuby was the top offensive performer for Preston last Thursday against Chouteau-Mazie, finishing 3 for 4 with a single, double, home run, and 3 RBIs. Holuby’s roundtripper came on a 2-run blast in the second.
Other Lady Pirate batters with multiple hits in the shutout win were Taylan Starr (2 for 4, single, double, RBI), Emilie Stidman (2 for 4, 2 singles), Na’Braijhanae Phillips (2 for 4, single, double), Kinlee Basquez (2 for 4, single, double), and Celeste Pineda (2 for 4, single, home run, 3 RBIs) with two hits apiece. Pineda’s home run came on a 2-run blast in the fifth.
The final two base hits for Preston in the win came on a single by Josie Cope and double by Mazie Flud.
Other baserunners in last Thursday’s meeting with Chouteau-Mazie were Starr (fielder’s choice), Stidman (error), Holuby (fielder’s choice), Flud (error), Pineda (RBI fielder’s choice), and Caris Tecumseh (walk).
Starr earned the pitching win for Preston last Thursday against Chouteau-Mazie, allowing three hits, striking out eight, and walking four in seven shutout innings of work.
In last Friday’s championship game against Chouteau-Mazie, the Lady Pirates opened the scoring with a run in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by Na’Braijhanae Phillips.
After a scoreless second, Chouteau-Mazie tallied its lone run of the contest in the top of the third to knot the score at 1-1 after two and one-half innings of action.
The contest remained deadlocked at 1-1 until the bottom of the seventh.
In the last half of the seventh, Taylan Starr began the inning with a 1-out single. Starr then advanced to second on a groundout by Emilie Stidman and scored on an RBI single to left by Kristen Holuby to give the Lady Pirates the thrilling 2-1 victory and the regional championship plaque.
Starr added a single to begin the third to finish 2 for 4 at the plate.
Besides Phillips’ RBI single in the first and Holuby’s game-winning RBI single in the seventh, the other Lady Pirate base hits in last Friday’s title game win came on singles by Kinlee Basquez, Celeste Pineda, and Caris Tecumseh.
Other Preston baserunners last Friday were Stidman (walk), Holuby (error), and Phillips (walk).
Starr was awarded the pitching win for the Lady Pirates last Friday, giving up one run on two hits with three walks and six strikeouts in seven innings of work.
--- Class 2A Regional Tournament First Round
Preston 15, Nowata 0
Nowata: 0 -0-0 0 - 1 -3 Preston: 10 - 3 - 2 15 - 10 - 0 WP: Josie Cope LP: Branstetter HR: None --- Winner’s Bracket Finals Preston 8, Chouteau-Mazie 0
Chouteau:0-0-0-0-0-0-0 0-3-3 Preston: 0-5-0-1-2-0-x 8-15-1 WP: Taylan Starr LP: Messer HR: Preston: Celeste Pineda, Kristen Holuby --- Championship
Preston 2, Chouteau-Mazie 1
Chouteau:0-0-1-0-0-0-0 1-2-2 Preston: 1-0-0-0-0-0-1 2-7-2 WP: Taylan Starr LP: Messer HR: None
