Macy Pritchard strikes out 11 in GHS double win over Hooker

August 29, 2012

Guymon pitcher Macy Pritchard pitches to Hooker’s Kyra Cathcart in the second game of a doubleheader Tuesday night. Staff photo/John Plestina

Macy Pritchard caught several Lady Bulldogs looking and others swinging at the air as she fanned 11 batters pacing the Lady Tigers to wins on both ends of a doubleheader played at Guymon Tuesday night.
The Lady Tigers won the games over Hooker 6-5 and 13-1. Pritchard had six strikeouts in the first game and five in the second. She allowed minimal hits and walks.
It was Pritchard’s best pair of pitching performances yet.
The 14-year-old freshman didn’t get the familiar “itty-bitty freshman” chant from her teammates when she batted but they did chant, “Let’s go rookie.”
What Hooker head coach Terry Meade called the play of the night was when Guymon’s Kennedy Melton went airborne after a line drive at second base .
Meade compared Melton’s performance to a Major League play.
For Guymon in the first game, Lakin Winters had a standup double in the first inning and went on to score the first run.
Jahaira Marquez doubled in the bottom of the second inning.
Melton doubled and stole third base in the third inning. Carli Purdy drove her in for Guymon’s third run.
Shay Henry had a double in the fourth. Marquez drove her in.
Ashlyn Wadley scored in the fifth inning as a courtesy runner and Purdy drove in Winters. Wadley, who is recovering from a wrist injury, is only able to run.
For Hooker, Breezy Hickey doubled with one RBI in the second inning.
Jade Cathcart hit a double in the fifth inning for two RBIs.
In the second game, the Lady Tigers scored their first run when Purdy scored after a pop fly hit by Monica Padilla was dropped.
In the second inning, Graciela Gutierrez singled scoring Henry. Then Marquez and Wadley scored on wild pitches. Winters drove in Anahiz Alverez with a double and went on to score another Guymon run.
In the third and final inning, several hit batters and walks contributed to Guymon’s seven-run rally. Winters doubled driving Gutierrez in for the ninth run. A two-RBI double by Melton brought the tally to 11-1 and she then scored after stealing third base and taking advantage of a wild pitch. The final run came when Padilla was hit by a pitch, stole second and third and scored on a wild pitch.
For Hooker, Jade Cathcart doubled in the third inning and her sister, Kyra, drove her in for the Lady Bulldogs’ only run.
“We’re just trying to win one game at a time,” said Guymon head coach Wesley Bryson.
“Macy pitched the best game of her life and defensively we didn’t have any errors,” he said.
“It’s just one of my really on days,” Pritchard said after the second game. She added that she was in a good mood.
When asked if she thought the 11 strikeouts Tuesday night were a sign of better things ahead for her and her team, she responded that they were.
Pritchard is one of four freshmen in the usual starting lineup this year and one of seven that had never play varsity softball before this season. The team is in a rebuilding process with just two seniors on the squad. Only Monica Padilla is a current starter.
Meade credited Jade Cathcart for a decent hit in the second game.
“I thought Kyra (Cathcart) pitched good enough in the first game to win,” he said.