In baseball and softball lingo, the pitcher and catcher are collectively known as the battery. And batteries are known to have opposite ends called poles where positive and negatives combine to give energy, movement, sound, and light to the devices that they power.
St. Joseph High School’s softball team is anchored by two sophomore standouts, pitcher, Emma Kate Threet and catcher, Lori Ann Hughes. “
We’ve been best friends since kindergarten and teammates since we were in the sixth grade,” Hughes said. “Even when we’re just hanging out off the field, the conversation is almost always about softball.”
Like the poles of the battery, these two young ladies’ personalities are the exact opposite, but the perfect compliment from the other. Hughes is talkative and outgoing while Threet is low key, laid back and chilled. During some of the most intense competition on the field, these two different approaches work very well for the Lady Irish.
“When Lori Ann makes her visits to the mound, most of the time, she is telling me to relax and to just throw strikes,” Threet said. “It really makes the game a little easier when I hear her say something like that to me.”
The friends for more than a decade love to see the other do well on both offense and defense. Both agree that a tournament game earlier this season where both had multiple hits was their best game combined thus far.
Threet and Hughes also believe that over the next three seasons they can provide the anchor that the team needs to hang a championship banner above the centerfield wall.
“I like being friends with Emma Kate because she is supportive and helps me get through some challenges,” Hughes said. “I can be a little crazy.”
“Lori Ann strives to be the best at everything that she does,” Threet. “And her motivation to be the best pushes me to strive for all of my goals. Her personality and her energy make her a great friend.
