Madison Buoy, Meeker:

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  • Madison Buoy, above, pitching against Wellston in what turned out to be her last high school softball game and, right, last week working at Anthony’s Grocery in Meeker. Photos/Brian Blansett
    Madison Buoy, above, pitching against Wellston in what turned out to be her last high school softball game and, right, last week working at Anthony’s Grocery in Meeker. Photos/Brian Blansett
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A starter on the softball team since she was a freshman, Madison Buoy was off to a great start in slowpitch this spring.

Buoy was four-for-five at the plate and allowed only one run while pitching as the Lady Bulldogs got off to a 3-0 start and outscored the opposition 49-1.

It was a great start that turned out to be the entire season when the state ended the school year and all activities because of the COVID-19 virus.

“It’s very upsetting because you work your whole life for your senior year and it gets taken away and everything you worked for,” she said.

Madison said she heard about the end of the season from “watching the news and listening to the teachers and coaches.”

Since the decision to halt the school year, Buoy has worked at her family’s grocery stores in Meeker and Prague and working on her pilot’s license.

“There are benefits,” she said. “I’m getting to work and put money to college. “The hardest thing is realizing it is actually over.

“I never thought it would be the last game.”

Although she was 2-for-2 at the plate and scored three runs in her final game, she harbors few regrets because she thought she could have done better.

“I didn’t do my best hitting, which sucks because I thought I would make it up the next game,” she said.

“I still work with my little sister, hitting and playing catch.

“Working has helped me a lot, getting into the real world. You have to stay positive and not let it hurt you.

“Keep your head up.”