RUPERT- In the softball world, there may be no one playing the sport better right now that Greenbrier West’s Brilee Redden.
Always known for her pitching prowess since her freshman year, the junior has now not only added hitting to her resume’, but power hitting as well.
On Tuesday evening, April 29, Redden stepped up in the clutch yet again.
With the game tied at 6-6 in the bottom of the seventh and with two outs and an 0-1 count, Redden sent a walk off, 2-run home run over the left field fence and iced a critical 8-6 win over Class AAA’s Nicholas County Grizzlies.
“Personally, I just want to be the best version of myself for my team. I try to do everything in my power to do good and here recently it has all been working out in my favor,” Redden said after the game.
But before those heroics, the game started fast, slowed down a little, then ended in that thrilling fashion.
After Kyndall Taylor’s 1-2-3 inning in the top half of the first, The Cavs (12-7) took a 3-0 lead in the bottom and did it all with two outs. Preslee Treadway singled following a Maddie Fields walk. Then, Brooklyn Adkins knocked a 2-run double to center for a 2-0 West lead. Taylor then doubled as well and plated Adkins.
Fields would single in Redden in the second to give Greenbrier West a relatively comfortable 4-0 lead after two.
Nicholas (7-10) answered in the third frame with four runs of their own with a Zoey Nash double and an Abby Hilleary base knock. When Myah Scott scored on an error, that put the score at 4-4 after three.
Pitching and defense took over for the next five innings which eventually sent the game into extras.
West got down by one in both the eighth and ninth frames but answered each time. In the eighth, Treadway tripled to lead off. Two batters later she was sacrificed in on a bunt from Diana Porter to tie the game at 5-all. In the ninth, trailing 6-5, Redden led off with a single and after two quick strikeouts, Treadway came up big again with an RBI triple to tie it at 6-6. She ended up left stranded on third.
By that time, Redden had stepped on the mound and put the Grizzlies down in order. She then hit the game winner in the bottom of the tenth and sent the crowd into a frenzy.
“The feeling of hitting a walk off is great,” Redden said.
“Being in that situation is intimidating at times, but I trust myself enough so that I can pull out the win for my team. I can’t give anyone else the glory besides God,” she concluded.
Redden finished 4-6 with three runs, and two RBIs. Treadway was 3-5 with two runs, two triples, and an RBI. Adkins drove in two runs.
The Cavs will be back in action on Wednesday, April 30 vs. the Sherman Tide.
