Observer-Reporter Athlete of the Week
Name: Kiley Meek
School: West Greene
Sport: Softball
Class: Junior
Meek’s week: The right-handed pitcher tossed the first no-hitter of her high school career in a 10-0 victory over Avella in a Section 2-A game. She followed that with a key home run in an 8-3 victory over Mapletown two days later. Meek leads the team with three home runs.
The wins over Avella and Mapletown kept the Pioneers atop the section standings with an undefeated record.
“I think this team can be great,” said Meek. “I think we have a good shot at (winning a state title.)”
When West Greene was making its run to the state title a few years ago, Meek remembers listening to the broadcast of the game on the car radio outside her house.
Like every athlete who played in the spring, Meek lost a year to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We knew she was going to be the next (starting pitcher) for us,” said West Greene head coach Bill Simms. “She’s a hard worker. Last year, had we not heard of COVID, she was going to pitch some exhibition games and some lower-echelon section games. This year, she is definitely our No. 1.”
Meek mainly throws a fastball, changeup, and dropball but works on other pitches, including a screwball.
Meek started the season as the No. 2 hitter in the lineup but was moved to cleanup after she showed power. She has three home runs and 18 RBI in 40 at-bats and carries a .375 batting average.
In the circle, Meek has a 10-2 record with a 2.92 ERA. She has nine complete games in 12 starts and has 66 strikeouts in 64 2/3 innings. Opposing hitters have a .183 batting average.
A barrel of fun: Meeks gets away from softball by participating in horse racing, barrel racing, pole bending and showing her goats.
Meek said it take a few years of training to get a horse ready for the racing events.
“I got interested at a young age,” said Meek. “I got a trainer and they started me doing all different types of things.”
Pole bending is a timed event that features a horse and one mounted rider, running a weaving or serpentine path around six poles arranged in a line.
Barrel racing is similar except the race goes out and back between two spaced out barrels.
Meek shows her market goats mainly at the Jacktown Fair.
Compiled by Joe Tuscano