Rebels' Pate shows poise in pitcher's circle

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on June 4, 2015 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

CALYPSO -- Trey Pate and his baseball teammates watched nervously as Pinetown Northside put runners in scoring position during the sixth and seventh innings last Friday evening.

Would North Duplin hold defensively?

Pate never doubted it.

Not with younger cousin Rylee Pate inside the pitcher's circle. The sophomore right-hander wiggled out of trouble twice, finishing each ending with a strikeout.

"She just battles," Trey said. "It's not always pretty, not always strikeouts. But she finds a way and her teammates do a good job helping her."

The top-seeded Panthers hit into a rally-killing fielder's choice in the sixth before Rylee logged her 10th "K" (strikeout) of the night.

Northside threatened again and loaded the bases with one out in the seventh. Pate snagged an infield pop-up for the second out. Facing a 1-1 count against lead-off batter Mariah Stanley, Pate got her to bite and foul off a rise ball.

Two strikes.

Pate did her normal routine -- she stepped to the back of the circle, picked up the rosin bag, tossed it to dry her hand, got the pitch from the dugout and looked at her armband.

A mere two seconds later, but what seemed like an eternity, Stanley swung at an ankle-biting pitch for strike three. Boisterous fans roared their approval as North Duplin headed to the dugout still deadlocked in a 0-0 ballgame.

"It looked a little shaky," Trey said. "There's nothing you can say to explain how big that it is. It's all up to her and she's got the stuff to get out of any situation. (Her) teammates have the utmost confidence in her.

"You know she's going to make the play."

Two pitches into the Rebels' seventh, outfielder Courtney Brock mashed the game-ending, walk-off home run over the center-field fence. Pandemonium erupted and her teammates rushed toward her to celebrate the program's first eastern regional championship -- and just its second overall -- since 1989.

"I've buckled down (all season) when I had to and gotten out of a lot of jams," Rylee said. "The last inning I was a little nervous (but) I don't let my emotions get to me very easy."

The nerves are gone for now.

But you can expect the butterflies to return Friday when the Rebels (18-3-1) oppose Hiwassee Dam (24-3) in the N.C. High School Athletic Association state finals. Game 1 in the best-of-three series is 8 p.m.

Game 2 is 2 p.m. Saturday.

"The girls have been relaxed the whole time (in the playoffs)," first-year North Duplin head coach Ricky Edwards said. "They've just handled everything so well. They're a lot of good softball teams out there, but our girls have really played hard.

"We're not going to change (anything in practice this week). I want the girls to enjoy it, and that's what we talked about throughout the playoffs to have fun ... enjoy the moment."

Maybe some more special memories are in the Rebels' future.