CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Despite being different ages and playing different primary positions, Herbert Hoover’s Delani Buckner and Hurricane’s Caiti Mathes have a lot in common.
Neither has played a prep softball season that didn’t end in a state championship. Each has won a Gatorade West Virginia Player of the Year award. And now, both have also been named the state player of the year by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association as the two split the 2019 honor.
Mathes, a senior, ended her career with a fourth championship in four tries in Vienna in May. Buckner is on the same pace, winning her third with the Huskies at the end of her junior season.
While both have more-than-worthy numbers for the award, both of them — the ultimate team players by all accounts — started with praising their teams first.
“It’s more of a team award,” Buckner said. “It brings to light how well our team does, making sure they can perform. They do a lot for me and they know I always have their backs and they have mine.”
“We just knew we wanted to be back in Vienna all year long and we had to step up and be our best every single game,” Mathes said.
While the numbers, the records and the titles are glossy, both players had to help lead their respective team through a fair share of adversity.
For Hurricane, that came mainly in an early-season three-game losing streak, all lopsided defeats, to George Washington, Cabell Midland and St. Albans. It left the team with a 2-3 record and in uncharted waters for a program that has now won five straight Class AAA championships and six out of the last seven.
“In past years, we got beat once and I guess everybody assumed we would just win it,” Mathes said. “In practice we talked about it — our weak spots offensively and defensively — and worked on those.”
Over the course of the season, the Redskins steadily improved and by the time the team reached Vienna, there was little visible difference between the 2019 edition and any of the past championship teams.
At the heart of all of it was Mathes, a slick-fielding shortstop with a big arm that will head to Marshall next season to continue her playing career. She registered a .607 batting average with 22 home runs, a number believed by most to be a single-season record. She also drove in 73 runs and led the team with five triples and seven stolen bases.
Buckner has one more season to add onto her totals, but her numbers in 2019 were every bit as eye-popping. The junior righty, who is committed to Appalachian State, went 20-1 with two saves, five perfect games and nine no-hitters while striking out 273 and walking 18 in 127 innings with an ERA of 0.33.
Those numbers marked a small improvement on already terrific pitching stats from 2018, but it was at the plate that the biggest gains were had. This year she led the Huskies with a .495 batting average to go with a pair of home runs, nine doubles and 33 RBIs from the cleanup spot.
