Preston maintains perfect district record
The Preston Lady Pirate varsity fastpitch softball team finished with an unblemished district record this past Saturday with a 9-0 victory over the Pawhuska Lady Huskies.
The shutout win over Pawhuska gave the Lady Pirates a spotless 6-0 record in district play and awarded the Preston squad the District 2A-13 championship plaque.
With the district championship, the Lady Pirates will serve as one of the 16 host sites this week for the Class 2A regional tournament. The three teams joining Preston at the Class 2A Regional 13 tournament will be the Nowata Lady Ironmen, Chouteau- Mazie Lady Wildcats, and Commerce Lady Tigers. Preston is scheduled to begin the 4-team, double-elimination, tournament Thursday at 12 p.m. against Nowata, while Chouteau-Mazie and Commerce are scheduled to compete in the other opening-round contest Thursday at 2 p.m.
Prior to postseason play on Thursday, the Lady Pirates were scheduled to host county rival Morris on Monday and travel to Eufaula on Tuesday.
In Saturday’s district finale at Pawhuska, the Preston squad opened the scoring with five runs in the top of the first.
The score remained at 5-0 until the top of the fifth when the Lady Pirates plated a run in the frame for a 6-run advantage. The visitors then added two in the sixth and one in the seventh to put the finishing touches on the 9-run shutout victory.
The Preston offense was led by the duo of Emilie Stidman (3 for 4, 3 singles, RBI) and Mazie Flud (3 for 4, single, double, home run, RBI) with three hits apiece. Flud’s home run came on a solo blast in the sixth.
Other Lady Pirate players with multi-hit games against Pawhuska were Taylan Starr (2 for 5, 2 singles), Kristen Holuby (2 for 4, single, double, RBI), and Kinlee Basquez (2 for 3, 2 singles, RBI) with two hits each. Holuby’s RBI came on a sacrifice fly in the seventh.
The other two Preston base hits on Saturday came on a single by Olivia Beaver and a double by Celeste Pineda.
Other baserunners for the Lady Pirates in the shutout win were Stidman (walk), Holuby (walk, error), Flud (walk), Basquez (hit by pitch), Pineda (walk), Josie Cope (walk, fielder’s choice), and Caris Tecumseh (2 walks).
Starr went the distance in the circle to earn the pitching win for Preston, allowing no runs on two hits, while striking out nine in seven innings of work.
— Preston 9, Pawhuska 0
Preston: 5-0-0-0-1-2-1 9-14-1 Pawhuska:0-0-0-0-0-0-0 0-2-3 WP: Taylan Starr LP: Garrett HR: Preston: Mazie Flud
