The heir apparent

Krista Giles has some big spikes to fill, and so far she’s busting the laces.

With last year’s graduation of Lynn Taylor, who holds virtually every pitching record in Havelock’s softball program, the Rams desperately needed a quality starting pitcher.

Giles, a sophomore who pitched at the junior varsity level last season, has stepped into the pitching circle, and so far the team hasn’t missed a beat.

Giles and the Rams are off to a 2-0 start, and the right-hander hasn’t given up a run.

Her varsity debut, in fact, couldn’t have been much better. In the season opener against West Carteret on Feb. 25, Giles turned in a dominant no-hit performance while striking out 16 in a 7-0 victory.

In her second outing last Tuesday, she again went the distance while striking out eight in a 1-0 win over Eastern Wayne.

That’s 24 K’s, two shutouts and a no-hitter in two career starts.

“I just felt good,” Giles said of the no-hitter, which, characteristically, no one on the Rams bench mentioned while it was in progress. “I think my adrenaline was pumping. It was the first game.”

“She’s off to a pretty good start,” Rams coach Terry Taylor understated. “She’s got some fairly big shoes to fill, and she’s done a good job so far.”

Taylor, who is Lynn Taylor’s father, said his decision to leave Giles on the JV squad turned out to be a good one. With Lynn Taylor going 13-7 with a 1.40 ERA last season, he feared Giles wouldn’t see much playing time.

“I was more interested in her pitching every game with the JV to get experience and mature a little bit,” the coach said. “I think it’s paid off. If she would’ve pitched varsity last year, she wouldn’t have pitched as much.”

Giles, who said she had never pitched a no-hitter at any level or struck out more than about 10 batters, agreed.

“I feel like it did me good because I got to get a lot of experience on the mound,” she said. “I got to pitch all the time so I would know what it would be like this year and the years to come.”

But neither she nor Taylor could have expected such a fast start, could they?

Taylor said Giles’ success isn’t a complete shock; he’s watched her pitch since she played rec-league ball as a fifth-grader. Taylor noticed her as he coached his daughter in other leagues, and he said he knew Giles was good even back then.

“I try to keep my eyes open,” Taylor said. “It wasn’t a surprise. You kind of try to line them up so you’ve got people coming.”

But Giles was a little taken aback by her first varsity outing.

“I’m playing older girls,” she said, “so I guess I was kind of surprised that I got a no-hitter because I’m throwing against seniors that have been playing a lot longer than I have.”

Giles, who mixes a two-seam and four-seam fastball with a changeup and an occasional screwball, tops out on the radar gun in the mid-50s. Taylor said his daughter, who now runs cross country at East Carolina, registered between 56 and 58 miles per hour.

But one place Giles hasn’t replaced Lynn Taylor yet is in the batter’s box. Taylor carried a big stick during her four-year varsity career; when she pitched the only perfect game in school history last season, Taylor also went 3-for-3 and drove in three runs.

She was also a team leader, a status level the younger Giles has yet to achieve, her coach said.

“She’s only had the burden of pitching, so that’s what she’s concentrated on,” Terry Taylor, who has inserted a DH for Giles so far, said. “But I think she could swing the bat.”

Meanwhile, Giles said she will continue to try to fill the chasm left by the best hurler in school history. She even has a goal of striking out all 21 batters in the school’s second perfect game.

Her coach just hopes she’ll stick around.

“I hope she stays here through high school,” Terry Taylor said, “and maybe be even better than Lynn was.”