Newspaper Page Text
Sunday, March 11, 2018
FROM 1B
with two home runs. And
on Feb. 21, after Huey
piled up seven hits and
allowed three earned runs
over 8 2/3 innings in the
circle in four games the
. previous weekend, she
was named espnW's
national player of the
week.
“To come in and get
those accolades is very
exciting,” Huey said.
“But I don’t take them
too seriously, because I
don’t want to get too in
my head about that stuff.”
The spot Huey is cur
rently at is a significant
departure from where she
seemed to be headed for
much of her time at
South. She committed to
Purdue early in her soph
omore year because of
her strong connection
with the Boilermakers’
coaches and the opportu
nity to get a full scholar
ship. And while Huey hit
and pitched in high
school and club softball,
it was her play at pitcher
that helped her twice earn
All-County Pitcher of the
Year, and that position
was where Huey saw her
future in college.
That path soon curved
off, though. Purdue head
coach Kim Schuette
resigned in July 2016,
and Huey started looking
at other options, particu
larly those closer to
home. She met Duke
head coach Marissa
Young at a clinic in the
summer of 2016, and she
committed October of
that fall.
The fact that the Blue
Devils were starting a
-program from scratch
gave Huey some 'pause,
but she liked Duke as a
school and trusted
Young’s coaching abili
ties enough to make-the
leap.
Huey still saw herself
as mainly a pitcher after
her career at South ended,
--but-she didn’t completely.-.
give up hitting. She knew
Duke would have a small
er roster — while teams
typically have 20-plus
players, the Blue Devils
have just 17 — so her
chances of getting in the
lineup would be that
much better.
FROM 1B
didn’t win.’
They won draw control
13-8. They recovered 33
groundballs to North’s
25. They outshot the
Raiders 40-5. They took
a 12-2 lead to the half
that began in the low 40’s
and tacked on seven more
by the time the tempera
ture reached 36 at the
game’s end.
“I think I’'m more cold
than any of them,”
Marchand said. “We usu
ally get out and practice
every day regardless of
the rain or the weather, -
so it didn’t really bother
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Ben Hendren For the Forsyth County News .
Forsyth's Lily Athey, right, is pressured by North Forsyth on Thursday.
Huey’s time in Durham
didn’t start that way,
though. Young said that
Huey came to her and
said that she wanted to be
a pitcher only, that she
couldn’t handle the pres
sure of doing both. And
while Huey eventually
backed off that desire, she
was working through an
injury during her first
series with the Blue
Devils, so while she
threw the first pitch and
got the first win in pro
gram history, her work
was limited to the circle.
But Young saw enough
good signs in the week
following that she put
Huey in the lineup to start
the next series, and the
freshman hasn’t left
since. Her success at the
plate has come with a
_new way of thinking, one
where Huey tries not to
think much at all.
“I’m just going to take
my hacks,” Huey said.
“...Whatever happens,
happens, because I don’t
‘want it to affect my pitch
ng:
Huey hasn’t sustained
the torrid pace she set
during that first weekend
at the plate, but that isn’t
rattling her or Young yet.
She is still’a freshman, so
there’s still much to learn
about her as a player.
“Kat has tremendous
power, and that’s some
thing you can’t teach,”
Young said. “It’s just
going to be a matter of if
_she’s able to sustain the
“ability to hit pitchers once
‘we know her strengths
and weaknesses.”
‘For now, though,
'Huey's career with the
‘Blue Devils is goin
iswimmingly. The tea%‘
‘has a winning record, she
-loves the town and cam
- pus — “Everybody’s wear
_ing a Duke shirt, where at
~qther schools, every
body’s wearing normal
“street clothes,” she said —
and she’s playing every
da%( as a freshman.
. It certainly doesn’t
~seem like the typical
" experience of a first-year
_.player in a first-year pro
gram. :
“We look like just
about any other team out
there,” Huey said. “And
many accomplished
coaches have said that
about us. Like, they can’t
believe what we’re doing
as a first-year team.”
themtoobad.”
West made use of their
groundball advantage
with quick, seamless
transitions, frequently
catching the Raiders’
defense out of place.
When the fast break
didn’t present itself, the
Wolverines slowed their
offense to an almost
predatory. crawl, feeding
.the ball fluidly around
the attacking third and
“taking every second nec
essary to find an open
shot.
Three different
Wolverines scored within
the final eight minutes
alone, with the final horn
only barely preventing a
fourth. Two of the last
~four goals belonged 10
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Nat LeDonne Duke Athletics
South Forsyth grad Katherine Huey expected to focus on pitching in her first season playing at Duke
University, and she’s done that well, throwing 46 innings with a 2.13 ERA. But Huey has also hit .351
at the plate with a team-leading two home runs.
junior Samanth—
a
“We’ve been working
really hard about not let
ting off the gas pedal
throughout the game, and
we just keep pushing the
intensity the whole time,”
Houlberg said. “This is a
- win we worked really’é
hard for. We definitely
worked every second for
it
The win kept West
locked in a tie with
Cambridge for second
place, with both of them
trailing undefeated
Milton.
“I would say we're far
from being in first place,”
Marchand said. “We’ve
still got Milton and
~Cambridge in the (ar¢a),
and-they’re still the top — caliber. As long as we —growing; the future looks
dogs; we're far from their keep getting better and bright.”
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Ben Bird Construction, LLC
Cumming, GA ¢ 770-527-3433
benbirdconstruction@yahoo.com
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