BILLINGS Being a lefthander has its advantages. But when you also have a deep mix of pitches in your arsenal? Then you, my friend, can be a hitter's worst nightmare.Billings Central junior southpaw Paxton Prill has had baseball in his blood his entire life, and he's now honing his skills toward a bigger future on the mound. In October, Prill committed to pitch in college at Notre Dame, where hell test his lefthanded toolkit on the Division I stage.Prill acknowledges the inherent benefits of being a lefty though he knows it doesn't mean much without dedication to the grind.WATCH THE VIDEO: Q2 AOW: Fighting Irish find golden lefty in Billings Central's Paxton Prill"My dad has always preached pitching to me," Prill told MTN Sports. "And then when I was in about seventh grade, I went out to this program called Driveline Baseball out in Seattle. That's where I saw the biggest increase in my velocity and pitching skills."So ever since then I wanted to pursue the dream of college (baseball), and that's where it's gotten me today."Notre Dame has always been top-of-mind for Prill; his grandfather, dad, uncle and aunt all attended the distinguished Catholic research university in South Bend, Ind. Prill looks forward to continuing that legacy.As for his goals with the Fighting Irish baseball program, those ambitions will be propped up by his unique pitching talent an evolving repertoire consisting of a fastball currently topping out at 90 mph, a sweeper, a curve, a cut slider and a changeup."My changeup in the offseason looked like my best pitch, along with that sweeper, so I need to keep developing those," he said. "And then my slider ... going out to college they said, 'Work on the slider.' So ever since then I've been trying to develop that and perfect that."In addition, Prill said his goal this year is to sit at 90 mph with his fastball and top out at about 92. And he still has another full year of growth and development ahead of him before he goes to Notre Dame.Central catcher Matteo Harris said Prill has another attribute that will serve him well going forward."Paxton is just different than anyone else. He has a different mindset," Harris said. "He's a grinder out there. He'll be down 3-0 in the count and you can guarantee he's going to fight until the last pitch of the at-bat. It's a different mentality."You get a lot of kids our age, they'll be down three in the count and be like, 'Oh, well, I guess I'll just try to throw a strike' or whatever. But Paxton, he's going to fight back and he's going to try and battle back in the count and get a strikeout."Prill, who also plays in the local American Legion program with the Billings Scarlets, helped Central win the state championship last season with a 4-3 victory over Belgrade in the title game last May at Vester Wilson Field in Hamilton. Prill was actually playing first base that day, and it was his cutoff of a throw from his cousin Oliver from center field that led to the final out: Belgrade's Sawyer Olson singled to bring in Andrew Hazen and Gage Banks and cut the score to 4-3, but Prill then cut off the throw from center and fired to third base to cut down another runner trying to advance and give the Rams the championship in their inaugural season.Central is off to a 2-0 start to this young season. Prill was scheduled to make his first start Tuesday against Columbus, but that game was postponed due to inclement weather."We're pretty fortunate not losing a single person from last year, so we have the same guys," Prill said. "I know there's a lot of teams gunning for us. We kind of have a target on our back, so we just have to go out and do our thing, and hopefully we can."For Prill, that target on Centrals back is less a burden than an invitation another chance to compete, to refine his stuff and to grow into the role hes carved out for himself."You have to know that you're better than whoever's coming to the plate, no matter what," Prill said. "Just have that confidence you're going to win this pitch and let your defense back you up."With that mindset and with five pitches to choose from the junior lefty looks poised to give Montana hitters fits now, and Division I batters plenty to think about in the years to come. ...read more read less