Jim Mashek

SPARTANS PUT 32-2 RECORD ON THE LINE AGAINST LOGAN COUNTY ON TUESDAY EVENING

They turned out for the Best Of The West fast-pitch softball showcase on Saturday at Buchanon Park on Nashville Road, just a mile or so from South Warren High School.

They rolled through two opponents, Oldham County and Great Crossing, with a pair of shutouts and plenty of offensive highlights on a sun-splashed day at the recreation complex.

They’ve established a winning tradition, a standard of excellence seldom seen in high school sports, in Kentucky and beyond, but they’re still in strong pursuit of the ultimate goal, a KHSAA state championship next month in Lexington.

The South Warren machine is humming along, under seventh-year head coach Kelly Reynolds, and the Spartans are built for the long haul, not a random pursuit of glory.

“We’ve been telling the girls, all year, it’s ‘all gas, no brakes,'” Reynolds said Saturday evening, lending a hand with the Best of the West about five hours after the Spartans drubbed Lexington’s Great Crossing High School, 13-0, in their second game of the day.

The Spartans seem to have it all, including starting pitching, a stout lineup, outstanding team speed and a handful of stars such as sophomore shortstop McLaine Hudson. They hit for power, and they hit for average. They survived a close call against archrival Greenwood High School, 13-12, before outscoring their next five opponents by a staggering 65-2 count.

In some ways, South Warren is competing against its own standard, but the Spartans have made just one KHSAA state tournament appearance since the 2020 campaign was wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic.

They’ve got plenty of obstacles in front of them, to possibly get back to next month’s KHSAA state tournament at the University of Kentucky’s John Cropp Stadium.

On Tuesday evening, No. 1-ranked South Warren (32-2 overall) will play host to nearby rival Logan County (24-4 overall, 11-1 in the KHSAA’s 4th Region), with an eye cast toward next week’s KHSAA 14th District Tournament at Bowling Green High School. The Spartans are unbeaten in district play and 10-0 against 4th Region opponents — in fact, they’ve lost just one game to an opponent from Kentucky all season — but in a sport such as fast-pitch softball, it’s the details, the little things, that tend to set the winning teams apart.

And as South coach Kelly Reynolds puts it, it’s pretty much a year-round sport for many programs across the Commonwealth, not just the meat grinder of the KHSAA’s 4th Region, which includes Greenwood (21-9-1 this season), along with Logan County, Barren County (22-7), Warren East (22-9) and Russellville (21-12).

Warren East eliminated the Spartans in the 4th Region championship game at the WKU softball complex in 2021, taking a 3-2 victory, and the Lady Raiders ousted South in back-to-back 4th Region title tilts in 2018 and ’19, when Reynolds was just getting her bearings after succeeding Chris Riggs as the school’s head coach.

In other words, there’s a challenge at seemingly every turn.

“We started all the way back in September,” Reynolds said. “Before that, we worked on individual skills, agility, things like that … and they all play travel ball in the summer. This is a really good group; the girls work really hard.”

Reynolds has compiled an amazing 186-32 overall record since becoming the Spartans’ head coach. She works as a guidance counselor at the school.

The backbone of this year’s South Warren squad lies in its battery. The Spartans have an amazing 1-2 punch in veteran pitchers Layla Ogden, a sophomore, and Courtney Norwood, a freshman. Ogden and Norwood have been varsity softball players since they were in seventh grade, and Ogden is a top-flight first baseman, too.

Their pitching numbers jump off the page.

Norwood, who tamed Great Crossing in four innings of work on Saturday, has compiled a 13-2 record with a 1.61 ERA. She’s recorded 105 strikeouts while allowing 54 hits and just 12 walks over 74 innings pitched. Ogden, meanwhile, is unbeaten in 16 decisions. She has given up a miniscule 40 hits in 71 innings pitched, with 103 strikeouts and 21 walks. She’s sporting an impressive 0.99 ERA.

Olivia Skaggs, a senior, has moved into the No. 3 role in the circle. She’s worked 22 1/3 innings pitched, with a 2-0 record and a 4.39 ERA. Behind the plate, Reynolds has used several catchers, including sophomores Kinleigh Russell and Hayden Holloway. Junior Riley Pruitt has also caught some games, along with South teammates Hadley Borders and Anna Hart, an eighth grader.

“We have five varsity catchers, and that’s pretty unusual,” Reynolds said. “These are very talented young ladies. They’re willing to put in the work. Layla and Courtney are dominant pitchers. It’s really a young group, but they’re just competitive.”

Then there’s South’s sophomore shortstop, McLaine Hudson.

Hudson, who also has been playing varsity softball since the seventh grade, is having a monster season for the Spartans. In 34 games, she’s compiled team highs in hits (76), batting average (.650), home runs (19), extra-base hits (37), stolen bases (31) and RBI (64).

She’s struck out just seven times in 117 at bats, but she seems reluctant to take a free pass, with just 12 walks on the season. In Saturday’s game against Great Crossing, Hudson lined a shot into the left-field corner and drove in three runs with an inside-the-park home run, her second of the season.

“She’d have been pretty upset if I’d held her up at third,” Reynolds said with a soft laugh. “I was waving her around, all the way.”

South’s Layla Ogden is sporting a .458 batting average with 14 home runs and 56 RBI, and Hayden Holloway isn’t too far behind, with a .356 batting average, eight home runs and 30 RBI.

And this may be the most telling stat:

South Warren is batting .436 AS A TEAM.

The Spartans put up some mighty impressive numbers last season, only to fall to Greenwood and ace pitcher Kayden Murray in the KHSAA 4th Region championship game, 2-1. Murray, who is now pitching at Lindsey Wilson College, and the Lady Gators reached the quarterfinals at last year’s state tournament at UK, before falling to Louisville’s Ballard High School, 4-1.

Ballard went on to win the state championship, crushing Henderson County 12-4 in the title game.

Ballard also stopped South Warren in the 2022 KHSAA state tournament, 11-0, on its way to another state championship.

South Warren had a penchant for dramatic comebacks just two years ago, but it’s been a different kind of dominance this season. The Spartans have gone 5-2 in games decided by two runs or less, which could be a concern when the level of competition takes on another dimension with Memorial Day weekend approaching.

If Kelly Reynolds wants to get her girls a little grounded, all she has to do is mention last year’s 2-1 loss to Greenwood in the 4th Region championship game. They’ve drawn overflow crowds for these games the last two years, with fans who can’t get in the WKU ballpark watching from the parking garage beyond the left-field fence.

“That game is very fresh,” Reynolds admitted. “When we lost that game, I told the girls, ‘I hope you remember how this feels.’ I think they understand.”

First pitch for Tuesday’s home game against Logan County is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.