The Preston Lady Pirate varsity slowpitch softball team traveled to Chelsea Tuesday to battle the host Chelsea Lady Dragons and the Wyandotte Lady Bears in a pair of 7-inning battles.
The Lady Pirates came away from Tuesday’s road trip with a split decision, defeating the host Lady Dragons by a 5-2 margin in their opening contest, then found themselves on the short end of a 9-3 outcome in the nightcap to Wyandotte.
The Preston diamond squad returned to action Thursday with a trip to Porum and will be home Friday for a county showdown with the Henryetta Lady Knights. In Tuesday’s battle with Chelsea, the Lady Pirates opened the scoring with two runs in the top of the second, then made it a 5-0 contest with three runs in their half of the fourth.
The host Lady Dragons tallied their two runs in the bottom of the fourth and were held scoreless the remainder of the contest to award the visitors from Preston the 5-2 victory.
All five of Preston’s runs against Chelsea came via the ‘long ball’, as the Lady Pirates blasted three home runs in the contest.
Jaiden Harley was tops offensively for Preston, going 3 for 4 with a pair of singles, home run, and 2 RBIs. Harley’s roundtripper came on a 2-run blast in the fourth.
Other Lady Pirate batters with multi-hit games against Chelsea were Taylan Starr (2 for 4, double, home run, RBI), Kristen Houlby (2 for 4, 2 singles), Jadyn Roberts (2 for 4, 2 singles), and Kinlee Basquez (2 for 4, 2 singles) with two hits apiece. Starr’s home run came on a solo shot in the fourth.
McKenna Jones accounted for the other ‘long ball’ for the Lady Pirates against Chelsea, getting the scoring started with a 2-run home run in the second.
The final two Preston base hits in the narrow win came on singles by Celeste Pineda and Karris Tecumseh.
In Tuesday’s showdown with Wyandotte, the Lady Pirates were held scoreless until the fifth when the Preston squad plated a pair of runs in the frame. The Preston ladies were only able to push across a run in the top of the sixth to suffer the 9-3 setback.
Wyandotte opened the scoring with three runs in the bottom of the first, then added a run in the second, three in the third, and two in the fifth for its 9-run total.
The Lady Pirates were held to seven hits in the contest, led by the duo of Celeste Pineda (2 for 3, 2 singles) and Kinlee Basquez (2 for 3, 2 singles, RBI) with two hits each.
The other three Preston base hits against Wyandotte came on singles by Kristen Houlby and Karris Tecumseh and an RBI single by McKenna Jones.
Houlby accounted for the lone Preston run in the sixth with an RBI sacrifice fly.
— Preston 5, Chelsea 2
Preston:0-2-0-3-0-0-0 5 – 14 – 0 Chelsea:0-0-0-2-0-0-0 2- 6 -1 WP: Josie Cope LP: Woodfield HR: Preston: Jaiden Harley, Taylan Starr, McKenna Jones — Wyandotte 9, Preston 3 Preston:0-0-0-0-2-1-0 3- 7 -3 Wyandotte:3-1-3-0-2-0-x 9 – 10 – 1 WP: Holtuke LP: Josie Cope HR: Wyandotte: Harjo (2), Jones (2), Hart
