Wood logs 13 strikeouts, Princeton ousts East Carteret

By Cam Ellis
Published in Sports on May 16, 2015 11:27 PM

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cellis@newsargus.com

PRINCETON -- Hailey Wood struck out the side in her first inning. She struck out the side in the last inning as well.

In between, she wasn't too bad either.

Wood threw a complete game as Princeton shut out East Carteret, 4-0, in their second-round game in the N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 1-A softball playoff game.

Wood overpowered the Mariners. She gave up three hits, struck out 13 batters and even without her best offspeed pitches, she was able to sit down batters with pin-point location with her fastball.

"I think that I pitched okay -- not my best performance," Wood said. "I just have to keep working hard and keep pushing forward."

Offensively, the Bulldogs looked locked in from the first pitch.

Lead-off hitter and Meredith College recruit Charlie Cox roped the first offering she saw from East Carteret starter Emily McGee into the right-field gap for a triple.

"That kind of gave everyone a little ease and made them want to play," Princeton head coach Terry Braswell said.

"We came out hitting the ball in the first inning, and I think that gave us extra confidence," Wood added. "I came out a little more nervous than I usually was, but after that first pitch I calmed down a little bit."

Cox finished 2 for 3 with two triples, an RBI and a run scored.

"(That first triple) pretty much gave us a lot of good confidence," she said. "It's only going to get harder from here, but I feel like we're going to have a pretty good chance if we play our ball."

The Bulldogs also got RBI from freshman left fielder Casey Mitchell and senior second baseman Logan Pace.

"I knew we had to come out and hit the ball because they're a strong team," Cox said. "I'm glad that I could start it off and start the rally because I feel like it set the pace for the whole game."

Princeton got three runs in the first two innings, which was more than enough for Wood to work with.

"It feels so good to know that we can go up there at bat and do our things, and she has our backs on the mound," Cox added. "Because we definitely have her back. Especially because we have a pretty strong defense, and defense wins championships."

Princeton faces top-seeded and unbeaten Pinetown Northside (22-0 overall) in the next round. The Bulldogs won last year's meeting, 9-3.

"I think we have to go in confident," Wood said. "Definitely not cocky. We just have to play our game and we can come out on top like we did today. We just have to keep working hard."

"We saw them last year," Braswell added. "So it should be a good game."